I tend to take it day-by-day. For instance, I sort-of had a plan for my morning, but then with one short text, that changed entirely. In a real sense, my thought was to sit down and sort out my thoughts, which I often do by blogging here. But then my wife texted to say someone had rear-ended her on the way to work – just about 3 miles from home. Definitely not the direction my wife was expecting for her day! I dropped everything, went to where the accident happened, and waited with her for a police officer to come write up an accident report. She was fine – and the other driver as well. But still, I wanted to be there with her. I also checked on the other driver and took several photos to document the accident. Both vehicles sustained some significant damage, and now we get to go through the whole mess of dealing with another person’s insurance company to try and get our vehicle repaired. But I’m glad both drivers were unharmed!

After the accident report was completed, my wife went on her way to work, in our banged up vehicle. I returned home and called the insurance company of the other driver to begin the claim process, which of course took quite a while. And now, a few hours later, I’m back to sitting down to write.

Did you know most auto accidents happen within 5 miles of home? At least, that’s what I was told one time in a defensive driving course, which I was no doubt taking to keep a traffic ticket from negatively impacting my insurance rates. It’s been probably 20 years or more since I took that class and still I remember that statistic. It’s weird – the things I remember and the things I forget. Like forgetting an entire camping trip ever happened, but remembering some random statistic about auto accidents. And I just did a quick search about that – apparently it still holds up. I saw some articles about it dated as recently as last year.

I definitely digressed there. But that’s also kinda the point. My life’s direction tends to be fairly situational, and I get distracted pretty easily. At the same time, as I look back over my life so far, I’d say there’s a general sense of progress. And I believe there’s a hand guiding my progress – a power greater than me at work in this world. But that progress has been anything but linear! The image above gets passed around a lot in recovery circles, but I think it also very much applies to life and “life’s direction”. We may think we know our direction, and even know what gives us direction. But, quite simply, life happens. And it’s never as straightforward as we think it’ll be.

What helps me manage life, even / especially when it doesn’t go in the direction I want? I’m finding that mindfulness, awareness, perspective, focusing on joy, gratitude, and a good dose of humor really help! For instance, even while waiting at the scene of the accident today, my wife and I were able to laugh together and enjoy each other’s company for a while longer than planned. We don’t always do that well, but today went pretty great, all things considered.