Just imagine: you had a full morning of classes, worked an eight-hour shift, finally got off work at around midnight, then suddenly, when all you want to do is go home, your car malfunctions.
And you’re stranded at work on a Thursday night.
Well, that situation is something I don’t have to imagine. It happened to me just recently.
And as someone who feels any slight inconvenience as a direct affront, I took this one offensively.
Just My Luck
Recently, I’ve been taking everything personally.
A surprise writing assignment on the one day I didn’t do my reading, unexpected humidity when I straightened my hair, two exams right after the other. Everything feels like a personal attack from the universal gods above, as if something I did was deserving of a consequence.
I spent that Thursday in a fairly good mood; I was being productive, holding conversations, and felt like the weather couldn’t have been more perfect. I even went to work boasting to my manager about my high spirits.
What a glorious, glamorous day it was.
But, of course, it was only right to tie off all that radiance with a bow of disappointment. A defective clutch pedal plus unshifting gears in my manual transmission vehicle equals a useless chunk of metal.
I had no other choice but to leave it there in the parking lot overnight. Early the next morning, I got the car towed, just to find out that I wouldn’t have it back until Monday afternoon.
Hence, for the weekend, I was left without a car, without groceries (which I was planning to buy that weekend), and no way to leave my apartment.
Cue the most miserable weekend of my life.
What could I have done to deserve that?
I couldn’t believe it. For weeks, leading up to that Thursday, I felt there was just problem after problem, one thing after another, and I couldn’t catch a break.
And if I was slowly starting to accept anything, it was the fact that my dad had been right all these years; “if it rains, it pours” is what he would say.
But you know what?
I think sometimes the sound of rain can be calming.
Should I Make Lemonade?
Even though I felt like I had been pummeled by hits lately (still do), I knew I couldn’t spend the whole weekend sulking. I already spent so much of my time festering in negativity (still do that too), and it was getting me nowhere.
I mean, I was going to get my car back eventually anyway, so I might as well try to find a benefit from all this, right?
You know what they say about lemons, or such.
So that’s what I tried to do.
One of my main prevailing guilty pleasures for the time has been spending money. I found I always got too bored or too lazy at home, and invariably wanted to go out: drive someplace, get a coffee, buy a new wardrobe, trinket, or purse.
Without a car, I was able (forced) to leave my wallet alone: use up what I already had bought, make coffee at home, rediscover clothes in my closet. I took a break from an insistent bank-breaking habit.
For a mind that often catches lethargy when it has nothing to do, I’m also constantly on the move: jumping from one store to the other, seeing one friend to the next, packing my schedule hour to hour. My car got me to most of these places, aided me in my movement and escape.
But with no way to get around, I was stuck in my apartment.
What did I do?
Homework, cook, clean. Although these aren’t usually my first pick of activities to do, it sure was nice to take a breath from the constant travel. To simply be at home.
Evidently, I don’t know if the benefits necessarily outweighed the inconvenience (nor would I ever want to go carless again), but it sure did remind me of something.
Even though things don’t always go the way we want them to, it’s easy to dwell in the frustration of it all: to curse at our luck, question our ability, and contest fairness.
But really, you make of it what you will. Clouds have a silver lining. One door opens when another closes. You play the hand you’re dealt. Scripts can be flipped. Some blessings are in disguise. And you make lemonade out of lemons.
And although I really had to push my limits, I think I made some average lemonade out of this situation.