monday morning mindfulness: practicing what I preach

I am so thankful for this online community & I want to be a little more intentional about chatting about things, encouraging one another, & reminding each other that many of us are probably feeling similar things, or have at different times. These monday morning mindfulness posts are going to be little glimpses into my heart & life: the good, the bad & the ugly. So much can be learned from different experiences, especially when you are practicing mindfulness.

With all of that being said, today’s topic is: practicing what I preach.

I have had a slew of car troubles since the spring.
In mid-April, one of my tires shredded on the highway driving home from a Chill (our old sno cone trailer) event on a school night. I had to have my coworkers give me a ride to school the next day & help me change my tire. All the while I was extremely irritated because I HATE asking for help.
In mid-May, I hit two deer at the same time. Well, one technically hit me (it ran into the driver’s side door) while I hit the other with the front of my car. I had worked so hard to pay my car off three & a half years early, & I totaled it. To say that I was devastated would be an understatement.
In mid-June, I bought a new car & I was straight up smitten with it!

Towards the end of September, I was walking out to my car to leave for school & found a massive tree limb had fallen on top of my car. When I called the local repair shop, they asked me if I was familiar with the claims process for insurance. I laughed & said “oh you have no idea”. I was able to get my car in for an appointment to get almost $5,000 worth of repair done.
* a few weeks later *
The repairs were taking a while longer than I thought they would. I was teaching classroom guidance one day when I missed a call from the repair shop. I had a voicemail from them as well as from an unknown number claiming to be an insurance company (not my insurance company) & wanting me to call them back about my vehicle. I listened to the repair shop’s voicemail & my jaw hit the floor. They were replacing the roof when a mishap took place & some sparks went flying. They ended up catching a blanket in my car on fire & damaging a good chunk of the interior. Like a lot of it. They were calling to fill me in & to let me know that their insurance company would be trying to get ahold of me as well. Y’all I can’t make this stuff up!!! When I called my parents to tell them what I just learned, my mom said, “I’m so surprised at how calm you are!” & that’s when I realized something: the way that I reacted to my car catching fire was vastly different than the way I reacted when I shredded a tire on the highway months prior.

I often find humor during my therapy sessions because many of the things I struggle with are things that I work through daily with my middle school students. One of those things being our circle of control. I’m putting a little graphic below to help explain what that is. Basically it means not getting upset about the things that are outside our circle of control — there’s no point!