In Others’ Words: Revved Up or Relaxed

I experienced the whole “stuck in overdrive” ordeal  for real yesterday.

I was driving on the highway when my car started revving up and, even when I tried to brake, the car wouldn’t slow down. I was coming up on my exit — and a red light — in a minute or less, and praying my car would stop even as I imagined my car driving straight into the intersection and oncoming traffic.

I’m thankful my car did stop, but it continued to rev up, so I turned it off. When I turned it back on? Same thing: the engine revved up way too high. So I turned it off again. My adrenaline was as revved up as my car, so much so that I was shaking all over.

I’m happy to report the car eventually calmed down (I did, too) and it’s now at the mechanic’s. Now that it’s all behind me — except for the repair bill — I got to thinking about how we can get stuck in overdrive in our lives. We rev our physical, mental, and emotional engines up and we never throttle back. We start thinking that living that way — revved up — is normal. 

Sure, sometimes circumstances demand that we pick up our pace, that we push ourselves, that we get up early and stay up late. But when it’s all over — the deadline, the commitment, the project — we forget to slow down again. We forget to relax and we miss the beauty of life.

My car revs up? I know that’s a malfunction and I’m getting it fixed. The question is: Why do I accept “revved up” as normal in my everyday life?

In Your Words: Revved Up or Relaxed — which would you say is the “normal” for you life? 

Revved Up or Relaxed #InOthersWords #quotes #lifeisbeautiful @bethvogt

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“Relax! Life is beautiful!” #quotes #DavidWolper #lifeisbeautiful @bethvogt

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