Tag: 2020

A Road Trip Gone Wrong (Part 2): Tips For Surviving the Unexpected

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December 30th my husband, 4-year-old son and I began a road trip to return home from Arizona. We expected the drive to take around 15 hours (long, but doable) however, due to some unfortunate circumstances, it ended up taking over 30 hours (and we still weren’t even home!)

You can read more about the specifics of our journey in Part 1 – the short version is that because of snow and ice, we got stuck on I-10 (meaning a dead stop) for a total of 14 hours, almost doubling our total travel time. It was 31 hours from the time we started the trip until we were able to rest in a hotel, and by the time we made it to our actual house, it had been 54 hours and 8 minutes from when we left (thanks to my Dad for keeping track of the time!)

If you ever happen to find yourself stranded on the highway for many hours due to circumstances out of your control (heaven forbid!), I hope the following tips may serve you well.

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A Road Trip Gone Wrong (Part 1): the Series of Events that Had Us Stuck in Our Car for Over 30 Hours

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It seems appropriate to post this today, as it is currently snowing outside in Abilene, TX. I posted the picture below and said “I can confirm it is much more pleasant to enjoy the snow from inside your own home than on the road or in a hotel.”

MY BACKYARD – 1/10/2021

This post will be published in two parts: (1) the story – a series of unfortunate events that led to our 30-hour road trip, and (2) my tips and takeaways from the experience.

THE STORY

For the holidays, my family and I drove from Texas to Arizona to visit my parents and had a great time. We drove because we really did not feel good about being on an airplane with lots of other people (you know, COVID). The drive is long, about 15 hours or so, but it’s doable in one day. One very long day.

As our trip came to an end, we pulled out of my parent’s driveway in Phoenix around 8am Central time, never expecting that over 30 hours later, we still wouldn’t be back home.

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2020: Did You Survive or Thrive? (*spoiler – either answer is totally valid)

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I’m laughing as I look back at my post from January 4, 2020. I wrote, “I’m really optimistic about 2020 – I think big things are going to happen for me. I have no proof of this, just a feeling.”

Well big things certainly did happen for all of us!

Despite 2020 being a year that none of us could have predicted, I don’t look back on it with disdain. 2020 was different for sure, and not what I expected, but it still brought me a lot of good. (P.S. It’s okay if this is not how you feel! It’s okay if you never want to hear the word 2020 again!)

My focus word for 2020 was “thrive.” I just wanted to feel good about myself, and to make more time for things like exercising, eating healthy and spiritual growth. Amazingly, by the end of the year I find myself doing exactly those things – I’ve been jogging again and even lifting some weights at home (I joke with Dean that he better watch out since I’m getting so muscle-y). Around mid-August I started being more purposeful about the food I was eating (less sugar, more veggies). And with some encouragement from friends (or perhaps more accurately, accountability) I have made more time to pray and meditate and do feel like I’ve grown spiritually this year.

I know not everyone is able to express positive feelings about 2020, and that’s okay. I’ve seen many iterations of the following, but as the image states, it’s okay if all you did this year was survive.

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