Welcome to Car Trouble & Other Uncontrollable Problems

If I were to be honest with myself, I would have to admit that I like to be in control. Maybe it's because of my independent streak or my need for planning things out, but I like feeling in control of my life. I'm sure many of my readers feel the same way. So when something that I don't plan on happening happens, I tend to start overthinking things.

For example, my car has been having problems shifting gears. This isn't an unusual issue for the kind of car I drive. In fact the warranty has been extended for this issue for a few extra years. However, this is something that can take a while to fix if the parts aren't in.

My car is my primary mode of transportation. There are alternatives I can use (I live right across the street from the train station), but they are not the most convenient to get to work and I hate unconvincing anyone to ask for help (that doesn't mean I won't, I just feel bad about it). When I don't have my car I tend to get antsy.

Before taking my car into the dealership, I did some research as to which place I should go to (there are a couple close by) and what the Internet had to say about them. Now the Internet tends to be on the extremes when it comes to reviews, people either love something or they hate it. Then there are the fake reviews that can either be a smear campaign or a means of boosting up a rating. Looking in the Internet did not decrease my anxiety at all.

But the car needed to be looked at, so to the nearest dealership I went. I took a deep breath and I packed a bag full of snacks, books, notebooks and my knitting. I was set to wait at the dealership all day, which didn't end up happening because after they found out what was wrong and made sure they had all the parts to fix it, they took me home with the promise to come get me later that day when it was fixed.

This didn't stop me from worrying while I didn't have my car. What if they found something else wrong with he car. What if it wasn't covers under the warranty? What if a giant fell out of the sky and landed on my car squashing it for good ( as unplausable as that last one is I once saw a car combust in the parking lot at work, so my imagination went a little out there).

Today I feel a little silly for being so worried. Even though everything turned out alright for me, not having a car can be a real problem when there aren't many options for backup transportation. John Oliver went into detail about it this past week on his YouTube channel. If you haven't seen it yet, it's on pre-approved auto loans and it's a good watch.

Having a plan is a good idea if the worst should ever happen, but the worst that can happen isn't something that can always be planned on. I never thought an earthquake would hit Virginia and yet it did five years ago when I was just arriving at school.

It would be nice if I could control everything in my life, but then nothing unexpected would happen. And the unexpected can lead to some pretty awesome experiences, as well as some of the strangest.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off), please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from my readers. Until next week.

Welcome To Doubt

Sometimes, despite how confident I might feel, I keep thinking that what I am doing or about to do is the wrong thing. It whispers at the back of my mind. It keeps me tossing and turning at night. It will leave me paralyzed to the point where I will miss out on whatever it is I'm making a decision on.

It kind of sounds like when I'm worrying about something. In fact I would say that doubt and worry are very similar feelings under the right circumstances.

It's a times like these I need to talk to someone. I have a few people I talk to (and a few people who talk to me). Sometimes these people will say things I don't want to hear. They are most likely right, but that doesn't mean I want to hear it. Sometimes I say things they don't want to hear. It's a vicious (and quite possibly necessary) cycle.

The best way to beat doubt is to weigh the pros and cons (and hope the pros win). I tend to look at the worst case scenario and build a plan to counter act it. If I can't come up with a counter plan, then I walk away. If the worst case scenario doesn't seem that bad, I throw caution to the wind and jump right in (hopefully feet first).

From my own personal experience, they only way to beat doubt is to not dwell on it. I find something else to focus on (like writing a blog about all the crazy things that happen to me) or work on minimizing any damages that could result in a worst case scenario. Anyway you slice it, I'm doing something productive with my time.

So here are my top five ways to stop doubting myself:

1) Write - doesn't really matter what. It could just be what has me doubting myself or something else completely unrelated. Just write it out and maybe I'll solve one of my problems.

2) Talk it out - doesn't matter with who. Heck I don't care if someone talks to their lamp (though that might raise a few eyebrows). Talking helps...and so does listening.

3) Exercise - Wanna know what makes me feel good (other than eating my weight in mac and cheese)? Running around like a maniac! It helps clear my head and let me think. It also helps with the long office days where I'm stuck in an office chair for eight hours straight.

4) Go out with friends/family/significant others - humans are social creatures and even introverts need to get out once in a blue moon. Going out with a group of people can help relieve stress which will also help stop me from worrying and doubting myself. So turn off Netflix and go out on the town

5) Do something unexpected - I often doubt my abilities. I'd say everyone does, but I can't speak for everyone. One of my favorite ways to get myself out of a self doubting funk is to spontaneously do something. If I can tell myself that I did something unexpected then I can tell myself that I can do anything.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off), please like, share, or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Until next week.