Some time ago, I wrote about an article about a good friend, Marianna "Muffy" Davis, who many of you may know from Disaboom. She's a Paralympic skier, amazing motivational speaker and now a super mom. I wrote about her recovery from the skiing accident that left her paraplegic, and her return to world class ski competition via a mono-ski.
In her story, she told me how on bad days after the accident, she would get in her hand-controlled car and drive to Galena Summit, north of Sun Valley, Idaho.
“I would look out over the Stanley Basin and watch the sunset,” she said. “That’s where I would find my peace again. That’s where I would grieve, and that’s where I would heal and get the strength to go back at it again.”
That scene came to me as I was thinking about what to write for this blog. It struck me that she used her car as an escape vehicle, as a way to go somewhere that was meaningful to her, to make sense of it all, take a deep breath and decompress. I did that two days ago as I drove to central Utah to visit an old friend, and learn some new tricks about blogging and the internet from his wife, who teaches computer technology at a two year college.
I've been going through a few tough days of late, with my daughter's illness and my own financial situation (something we probably all worry about more these days.) Getting in my car and heading out alone on the open road gave me the chance to think, listen to good music and enjoy the wide open landscape of Utah.
Just being insulated from the world was therapeutic. In my car, I forget how difficult it is to walk and how long it takes me to get from point A to point B on my feet. I can enjoy a change of scenery with very little physical effort, and because I was in the car for two hours by myself, I could let my thoughts wander (though not so far that I couldn't be aware of navigating the road.)
I became instantly grateful that I could afford to have a car, and that I am able to drive myself wherever I want to go. Just getting in touch with my grateful list was healing. It helped end my pity party of one. I felt better about life, and a bit more capable of taking it on again. And it really didn't have anything to do with horsepower or handling or leather seating. It had everything to do with freedom and mobility.
Of course there are other ways to find serenity and stress relief. Just check out the article about stress relief in the "Living" section of Disaboom.com. You don't need a car. But if you have one, and can take off to your favorite outdoor sanctuary, it can be helpful. Just don't do it if you're angry or so distraught that you can't drive safely. That will just make things worse.
For me, cranking up the engine and the music helps me forget what I'm so stressed about. Thanks Mitsubishi, and thanks Mick Jagger. As he vocalized "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, well you just might find you get what you need."
