Life has a funny way of intervening when things start spiraling out of control. Call it fate, karma or maybe even divine intervention, but whatever you choose to call it, it’s almost always out of our control, and it almost always makes us stop, or slow down, and reevaluate just what the hell we’re doing.
You may be wondering what has gotten into me, to make me go on about this… well, to not go into too many details, I recently had a little accident while working at home, that resulted in, what could have been, a very serious injury. I’m not one to dwell on “what could have happened”… far from it, actually, but this one was different. Mainly because I didn’t know how bad it actually was, for several days.
In a nutshell, while doing some yard work- I sustained an eye injury that immediately altered my vision. A quick trip to the ER resulted in some meds, an eye patch and a follow-up with an ophthalmologist, along with a “don’t drive, don't ride motorcycles and don’t lie down flat” order- not great for a guy that drives for work, rides for work (and leisure) and lies down flat at least once a night. After a visit to the eye doctor, I was able to lose the eye patch, so my days of Pirating were over before they started, and the doc also loosened the driving restriction a little, but held the motorcycle restriction in place. While my eye still isn’t working the way it is supposed to, the biggest blessing is- I didn’t lose my vision!
Why am I sharing this with you? Well, it’s simple really… just when you are so busy, with so many different things going on, when you’re too busy to take a break, sometimes, life intervenes and says “Enough! Stop, or I’ll stop you!” That’s what happened to me.
You see, I’ve been running, hard, for the past few months. I recently learned that I can retire from my payin’ gig… as of right now. But, I still have several things that I want to get done before I clock out for the last time, and I’ve been battling with the decision on whether or not to drop my retirement paperwork.
On one hand, I can play it safe, stay where I am and get those things done; and on the other hand, I can retire and start my new career as a full-time writer- finishing my novel and writing this blog more often than I have been- and getting some kind of fun, part-time, job to earn a little beer (or more likely- motorcycle parts) money, on the side. It’s a tough decision, especially since I’ve been doing what I do for such a long time. Add to that- I’ve also been working hard to get some bills paid off, fix some things around the house, trying to keep up with regular maintenance on the cars, house and motorcycles, and trying to keep up with new tasks (and frustrating situations) that keep coming up at the payin’ gig. It’s been a whirlwind for the past few months, and I have kept saying, over and over, “I’ll take care of that when things slow down a little.” Well, this past week, life took control and slowed things down for me.
Mechanically speaking- it’s a lot like a bearing failure. One minute, everything is running smooth, then all of a sudden, for no apparent reason, you hear a horrible sound and everything starts grinding to a stop. It wasn’t for no reason, though. The bearing spun too fast, for too long, and got overheated, overworked and then… it failed and seized. A bearing is typically pretty easy to repair, but… in order to do it, you have to stop the machine, take it all apart, and then put it all back together again, making sure that everything is in it’s right place. Then, you don’t just go full speed again, no, you start out slow, making sure that everything is right. Then, you slowly bring everything back up to speed and, before long, you’re back up to 100%. That’s what I’m doing now. I’m taking time to write a few pieces on the blog, a few chapters in the novel, and contemplating my next move, taking it nice and slow, making sure that everything is in the right place, and that it’s all working right, before I go full speed again.
My biggest fear with this injury was losing my eye. Wearing the eye patch gave me an eery insight (see what I did there?) into what partial blindness would be like, and the reality of how something like that could impact my daily life was startling, to say the least. I’m not glad it happened, but I am glad that I have learned the valuable lessons that I’ve learned from it. Riding motorcycles is a large part of who I am, and not being able to do that would be devastating for me in several ways. Writing is another, and while I could still write with one eye, you don’t realize how mush easier it is do basic things like that, with both of your peepers… until you don’t have both of them to use.
To wrap this up, I’ll leave you with some advice- Don’t get too busy, or in too much of a rush, to take the proper precautions to avoid getting yourself in a bind. Whether that means taking a few minutes to put on safety glasses, or taking a few days off of work to rest, and reset, yourself. No matter what happens, if life does have to intervene on your behalf, and force you to slow down for a few days, then don’t get mad, sad or dismayed by it- instead, take the time to reevaluate, repair and reset.
In the famous words of Ferris Bueller, “life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
Till next time, MotoReaders, Ride safe and wear your safety glasses.
