I have. More than once. And you know what? They’re not fun. First off, if you’ve ever been in a serious accident, the physical toll it takes on your body is nothing to laugh at. Not to mention the mental and emotional adjustment you have to worry about during recovery. Then there’s the… let’s just say, inconvenience of having to worry about insurance, repairs, rentals, and all that jazz.

There are a couple things that they taught me, though. They’ve become reminders and continue to keep me humble in the midst of rough life patches. First, life happens. Sometimes you can see something coming, and sometimes you can’t. Either way, life is gonna life. Things are going to happen to us, but we have a choice to lose ourselves in the mess of it or show up ready to choose joy in the process of it.

The second thing it reminds me is that life can pivot unexpectedly. We live in a way that we get into a groove, doing all the familiar things and going to all the familiar places, but events will occur that interrupt that routine. It’s in those moments that I become grateful for the security and comfort of that routine, and find a way to work through the change that’s come with grace and a lack of judgement.

Have you had an accident that taught you anything?