Jump Start

Being the independent gal that I am, I am a long-standing member of AAA. This is because I know just what the AAA website claims: "Each year, millions of motorists are stranded due to a dead battery." That's right, millions of them. (Now that I read that, it occurs to me they may be exaggerating just a bit.) Anyway, I don't want to be counted amongst those purported millions, because stranded just isn't my gig.

During ridiculously cold weather like this, the number of stranded motorists due to dead batteries increases exponentially. It's easy to get frustrated by these little annoyances in life, because it feels like they slow us down, throw us off track, delay us from our goals. Afterall, we have places to go, and people to see! But I think it's worth reflecting on this a bit, because everybody needs a little jump start once in a while.

Nobody ever got a jump start when things were running fine, or if they did that was really stupid. When things are running according to expectations, it would seem obvious that there is no need for a jump start. But in fact, over time our battery may be ever so gradually dwindling in power, slowing down and losing its charge without us even taking notice. And it takes a really significant event to grind things to a complete halt. It's then, and only then, that we seek out that jump start.

Once we get that jump start, it's like, "Wow!" There is a new sense of appreciation for what was temporarily lost, but there is also a burst of energy that results. It's like you didn't even pay attention to how poorly things were running or the preventative maintenance that was needed until the catastrophic event came along. Once that happens and the jump start is completed, it becomes ever so clear how things were really intended to run all along.

Batteries aren't the only thing that need the occasional jump start, life needs them too. Sometimes we trick ourselves into thinking that we are fully charged and right on track, when in fact we are not. That's complacency, and everybody does it sometimes. It is usually then that it takes something getting in our path, hitting us up side the head or even taking us down for a minute before we realize what we really need. A jump start, of course.

AAA offers a full menu of services for its members to help keep things running smoothly. For those of us who are lucky enough, our lives have an equally valuable array of resources available to us. We have big brains to identify solutions, financial resources to fund the results, friends and family who will fill the gap until we make those solutions a reality. And let's not forget...we also have the patience and wisdom to help us transcend the current set of circumstances when we need to.

I've got my AAA card, and I've got everything else I need for my road trip of life. Do you?