Today was a non-day. Nothing spectacular happened this morning, nor all day at work (other than getting a lot of work done as it is quiet in the office at the moment!). And then, I began my trek North for a weekend with my girlfriend and everything shifted. This drive was a beautiful moment for two reasons.
First: I had four hours in the car driving by myself. I had four hours to reflect upon the year behind me and the opportunities I have ahead of me. I had four hours to mourn the year’s losses. I had four hours to celebrate the year’s wins. I had four hours to really understand all that has happened to me over the past year. Talk about cathartic.
Secondly: I had a scary adventure about 20 minutes before arriving at my destination. I managed to get stuck; on a side-road; going uphill; around a corner; that wasn’t plowed; without cell service. Yes. That’s right. Re-read that. Stuck; on a side-road; going uphill; around a corner; that wasn’t plowed; without cell service.
How you ask? I lost momentum climbing a particularly icy/snowy hill after driving into some snow that wasn’t packed down. I started to slip backwards down the hill in my car. Instead of panicking, I put the car into reverse and tried to navigate the Northern blackness of night down the hill and around a corner. Huh. Not so easy when you can’t see 10 feet behind you. So, on the way down (to a point where I figured I could gather enough momentum to get back up!) I stayed close to the hill side and left the cliff side alone. Of course, this meant that I overcompensated and I ended up off the road, in deeper, unpacked snow, on the hill side of the road. Before I knew it, I was completely buried in snow. Yes. It was up over my bumper. My tires spun and splashed snow everywhere.
And there I was. Ten kilometres away from my friend’s house. Stuck in the snow, without cell phone service.
And yet I didn’t panic. I didn’t even really get anxious (at first). I simply persevered. I dug out my wheels. Then I dug out my bumpers. I tried pushing my car down the hill, then thought better of it as I worried I wouldn’t be able to control the momentum should I manage to get her to move. In the end, it was digging down to the leaves beneath the snow that won me enough friction to get out of the deep snow.
And then, I found myself nearly parallel on the teeny road. In order to go up the hill (the direction I needed to go) I would have to cut my wheels tightly in order to avoid the cliff ahead. NOW I was anxious. Even going back the way I came could have been more challenging as I might not be able to control the speed on the icy hill. Either way, the cliff was directly ahead of me. I even considered bailing at that point and just hiking out. (After all I had food, drinks and lots of warm clothes! I was good for at least a couple of days hiking!)
But, like everything I do in life, I gave it one more shot. I figured I could control my momentum enough to figure out if it would work BEFORE disaster were to strike. And, so boldly, instead of looking back, (which might have been easier) I looked ahead and plowed onward. (sorry for the pun!) And, as I write out the story, I realize there are many parallels between my life in the past year and this stuck-in-the-snow experience. Much like my life’s overview earlier in the night, it was time to look forward.
Then slowly, in first gear, revving my poor car until she was screaming, I managed to crest the hill. A mini celebration was had, but I wasn’t out of the woods yet. (Literally!) I still had 6.6 km of this winding, hilly road to navigate.
In the end, every hill that I crested was a moment to be grateful to my wee car for getting me over the hill. And looking back, I’m certain that had I not had a standard car (thank you Mom & Dad for teaching me standard!) I would have had to abandon my car and walk out of the woods to a place where I could find cell phone service again. I was ready for that possibility, but I didn’t give in without one last try.
So today’s moment: reflection and staying calm.
Moments of reflection.
Moments of keeping calm and persevering.
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