Keeping calm in a troublesome situation

Winter is taking its sweet time excusing itself from the table, and our roads remain quite dangerous. February isn’t known for its pleasant weather, nor is winter up here known for its safe traveling conditions.
I was on my way home only a week ago through the cold weather and dark surroundings.

I had been taking a long way home with less traffic. As I was driving across the ice-caked roads, a sudden bend sprang upon me in the dark. My mind was elsewhere for a split second, causing me to react a bit too late and lose control of the vehicle, smashing into the snowbank ahead of me.

Now I’ve learned from experience that the best thing you can do in one of these situations is to remain calm and look for a way out of this situation. I found a way to get out of this snowbank by clearing out the snow behind my tires that kept them spinning wildly instead of gaining traction.

I realized then that it may not have been a good idea to have removed the spade from the back of my Jeep earlier, thinking I wouldn’t need it. No sooner had I backed out of the drift than my entire grill ripped off the front, taking the right headlight with it.

Dispelling all manner of profanity from my mouth, I loaded the pieces into the back of my vehicle and drove home in a sour mood, already calculating how much this would cost to be fixed.

What I should have been doing was to remain calm and look for a better way out of this. I lost my last Jeep to the bitter cold last year for not plugging its block heater in, and I learned its best to try and fix your vehicle’s problem yourself.

I had not planned to do it as I let my emotion govern my decision making. Still, under the encouragement of my parents, I brought the vehicle home and found a way to reattach the grill and light it back onto the vehicle.

I was able to drill several small holes in the plastic and iron keeping the articles attached and use zip ties to pull them together, essentially stitching it all together. Having been awake for a gash in my forehead being stitched together at age ten, I must say that a little stitch goes a long way.

The fix is temporary, meant mainly to get me through the winter and spring. It will be fixed properly with a new grill sometime in warmer weather.

Driving in winter is hard, and with one month left of it, please be careful. If the weather is bad, be careful whether you decide to drive through it. At night, maneuvering through streets is 10 times more complicated, with bright lights shining through a dark mass ahead of you. Drive slow and carefully across the ice with your mind focused on the road and its possible dangers, and if you have four-wheel drive, use it when driving across ice-sheened roads.

Most important of all, be calm when a bad situation strikes. Don’t lash out in anger at others, nor at your vehicle. In most situations, you will be alright if you are careful. Keeping your emotions in check will make the passing of the situation much less troublesome than anger or fear.