Life's Detour, And How..................... 5/8/19

    Bad news.

    I'm surprised. I'm not upset.  Maybe, that will happen later.

     It's been a lovely time for the past two months. Until now.  Years ago, I'd be
catastrophizing or depressed because of what happened Monday.

    That is not my response now.  I took my roadster to a major tire dealer. To have a tire replaced.

     When I got it back, the engine was destroyed.  Mysteries abound
as to what happened while it was in the auto repair shop. The manager was not in when I picked it up.

    It will cost $10,000, having it repaired.  Training in the work I do and having a strong sense of recovery helps me to maintain a peace that transcends my circumstances.  My response is subdued.

    For now. This is contrary to my usual passionate, enthusiastic, Latin nature.
   

    The meaning of acceptance in recovery does not mean passivity or resignation. It means seeing our situation and deciding what steps to take. Recov-ery is active and proactive.

    I cannot be pro-active as to what happened to my car.  It barely limps along.  It is severely dam-aged.

    The turn of events, totally unexpected.  I will take care of my car, get it fixed, make it good as new.

    I spoke with a trusted mechanic, Tony Bevilaqua, in Hayward.  He doesn't do engines.  Darn, I trust him implicitly.

    I aired out my grief to Stuart, a friend I've known for ages.  It helped a bit.  But he was busy, so our conversation was limited.  I could tell I was impatient when we spoke.
   

No, Stuart does not have long hair.
  No, he is not holding my hand

     It wasn't because of him. I lacked patience because of the automo-tive tragedy that befell me yesterday.  My grace deficiency while listen-ing to Stuart was a red idiot light blinking on my emotional dashboard while we spoke.

    It let me know I was upset, even if I did not feel disturbed. I spoke with him calmly as the tachometer of my heart raced at 8,000 rpms.

My Gratitudes After What Has Happened:
A.  I am thankful for taking deep breaths today.
   1.  It relaxes our heart. It is a healthy way of pausing, when experiencing setbacks, major ones.
B.  I appreciate knowing what to do when sucker punched by life's circumstances.
   1.  I do not take what happened and the destruction of my car personally.

   2.  I stay in the  solution.

        Moaning about the catastrophe does not improve anything. It only makes the problem loom larger and more disturbing.  Instead, I am determining what I can do.

        A friend and I delighted in taking turns while motoring along country roads as we traveled the Peninsula skyline, Sunday. That's when the flat happened. Eric dropped by my place last night, after getting the car from the shop.

        He listened to the knocking sound of the engine. "Pablo, your car was purring when we rode on Skyline," he said.  "It was purring when you drove in up on the flatbed tow truck," he continued, "Something is not right. They did something fishy to your car, while replacing that flat."

      Another person was with me, Tues-day, when the car was picked up by another tow truck, to drop it off at the tire shop. He remarked, "Your car ran smoothly, when you drove it from your driveway to the tow truck. I am shocked, what the tire shop did to your car."

        It is nice having emotional support, even though it does not change the condition of my car.  My need for sensitivity, connection and community were met.
 C.  I took care of myself by speaking with my friend of more than 20 years, Stuart.
 D.  I prayed.  I am powerless over what happened. I released my frustrations and the outcome of getting my car fixed, to God. In recovery, we learn we are powerless over the pronouns in our lives, people, places and things. That's certainly the case for me, right now.
 E.  I did not talk with friends who every time I share a concern with them, they play the Devil's Advocate, telling me where I am wrong.
    1. At this time, I don't have the emo-tional resources to tolerate their lack of empathy, the harsh-ness of someone's intellect when I need compassion, connec-tion and sensitivity towards my plight.

  "A prudent man is aware of a danger and with-draws.  The simple continue on and suffer for it. "                       Proverbs 27:12

 F.  I'm writing this posting, airing out the feelings that are surfacing.
    1. Journaling is a tremendous source of support.  Thank you, for listening.

 G.  I am rearranging my priorities.
    1. I am not taking a trip to Seattle I was planning on doing next month. I wanted to visit a friend who has medical challenges.
    2. When life changes, I need to change along with it.
       a. There's no resentment.  I am being practical.

    I have to go for now.  Appointments with clients beckon me. Wishing you a wonderful Wednesday.  Mine isn't.

    But life im-proves when using recover-y, support, maturity, dis-cernment and practicality to deal with the challenges we face.