It was Thursday night, the ride home from the office. The gauge was reading less than a quarter full, 40 miles remaining in the tank.
It would take no more than 5 minutes. My body gently leans right to encourage the mind to turn onto the exit ramp on I-95. But I’m hungry. I’m tired. I could stop. I should stop. I don’t stop. I’ll get up a few minutes earlier and fill-up in the morning. I see the towering Mobil sign in the rear view mirror. I take another glance at the gas gauge: 39.5 miles I will regret this.
Yesterday morning, I’m in the shower preparing for work. I’m running the mileage tally in my head. 36 miles in the tank. 15 miles to the office. 15 miles back. No gas stations in the vicinity near work. A 6 mile cushion. Tight.
Oh, I have been here, right here, and oh, so many times. I call up other memorable events:
- Montana: Slash in red zone. Two-lane highway. No sign of anything. 5:30 a.m.
- Florida Everglades: Slash approaching red zone. Thunderstorm, rain pounding on hood. Late afternoon.
- Green Bay. February. Twelve miles from next Service Stop. Wind gusts push drifts onto freeway.
- Northern Michigan: January. Snowstorm flurries. Slash approaching red zone. 8 pm in darkness.
Each was preventable.
All were avoidable.
All were not.
These decisions, poor decisions were made by a rational Man. A Man possessing a college graduation certificate, and not one, but two. This, a Man of average intelligence, not an Imbecile, acting like one, over and over and over again.
A man who has read hundreds of self help books. This same Man, who has meticulously saved productivity tips from these books, these nuggets carefully catalogued in an electronic collection for efficient Search and Rescue. And you would say, bullsh*t. And I would say, Truth.
This Man, who has ingested all of the books written by David Allen, the preeminent executive productivity coach to Fortune 500 Executives, including these best sellers: “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity” and “Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life” and “Making It All Work: Winning at the Game of Work and the Business of Life“.
And, this Man, who can recite productivity passages written by Allen from memory word for word:
“There seems to be someone about seven years old inside of all of us, who never matures, and whose behavior either allows us lots of creative expansion and productivity, or causes us to crash and burn…Capture and track all your projects and actions. Get them out of your head and into an objective, accessible system. So when you review it all, you can give a simple, single direction at every moment to the part of you that can really get it done.”
- Complete the task.
- Clear Your Head.
- Wipe out the anxiety.
I’m back in the car and on I-95. 35 miles in the tank. The Service Station is 2 miles ahead.
I approach the station.
I need to exit. Pull off Man, pull off.
I need to exit.
I can’t exit. It’s too cold. I have no coat. I need to get to the office. I have Enough gas. I can make it.
Station is now 500 ft away.
I need to exit. Exit damn it. Exit.
I pass the station.
Damn it!
I accelerate down I-95. The towering Mobil sign is in the rear view mirror, and I call up the scene from Seinfeld where Kramer test drives a car:
- Kramer: “There is some overlap between the needle and the slash below the “E”.
- Q: “How low are you going to go?”
- Kramer: “Oh, I’ve been in the slash many times. This is nothing. You get used to it. Just put it out of your mind.”
Just put it out of your mind.
Notes:
- Inspired by the late great Roman Philosopher Seneca said that “Nothing is so bitter that a calm mind cannot find comfort in it.”
- Photo Source: Kramer Test Drives Car Video
- Writing Series: Commuting
Live & Learn 
Is this really about you? World-renowned banker letting a seven-year-old drive his car?
LikeLiked by 2 people
This.Is.Me.All.Me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interesting. I’m the opposite. As soon as the needle is South of half a tank, I’m looking for a gas station. And while I’m there, I’m getting a Yoo-hoo. 😊
LikeLiked by 2 people
Laughing. We are strange creatures. Yoo-Hoo and all.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Indeed we are
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m with Him. Ray. Must be the name…
Fond of seven year olds…but in a good way…
Raye
LikeLiked by 3 people
Raye. Ray. All Tops!
LikeLiked by 2 people
this is us.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Smiling. It is. It is.
LikeLike
This is insane. The dark places my mind would have taken me thinking , what if?
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is insane. No argument there.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Madness pecks at us from time to time; the unseen bird from unknown lands…
“But the cloud passes; we survive after all, our sensibilities mostly intact. Madness pecks at us from time to time; the unseen bird from unknown lands. It pecks away mostly at the foot of the trunk, never ascending high enough for us to take note. After all, maybe we avoid looking at it, we, who are not even certain such a bird as that can exist, and even if it did we are surely not worthy to look on it. And so we stand, and breathe and close our eyes. At night sometimes there’s a breeze. It carries sharp scents to our wooden senses. We forget, we remember, we forget.”
~ overtothanatos
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes…
LikeLike
Ohmagosh, does *this* bring back memories. I can actually recall times in my childhood when we would be rocking from side to side in the car with my dad, “trying to slosh that last bit of fuel around in the tank and make it those last few miles home,” with my mother *fuming* in the passenger seat. Amazingly, I don’ *ever* recall him running out of gas. Me, I’m fillin’ up at a quarter of a tank at the least, and usually at half… 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Smiling. I’ve been in the same car and we and I too have never (yet) run out of gas. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is my Hero Husband…. And I always thought he couldn’t…. whatever…. because I reminded him 🤔🤗
LikeLiked by 1 person
Smiling. Must be a Man-thing…
LikeLike
Been there, done that! Hubby thinks I’m crazy. He fills up when it gets to 1/2 a tank. So not necessarily a guy thing, more of a crazy person thing, perhaps.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow Darlene. You too? I had you pegged for fill up at 1/2 tank. So glad to be in your company. Your thought reminds me of that great line in that great movie:
“Sell crazy someplace else. We’re all stocked up here.”
~ Melvin Udall (Jack Nicholson), As Good As It Gets
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love that line too!! (and the movie)
LikeLiked by 1 person
You and my husband….while I panic if I’m below a quarter of a tank…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Laughing…so glad not to be alone.
LikeLike
Ha ha…I know exactly how far I can go when I reach that red. I guess I like the “Kramer challenge” of it all. I’ve never run out of gas, but I always renew the auto club membership.
And once again, the show about nothing…is really about everything.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You too Van! Oh, No. And yes, it is about everything.
LikeLiked by 1 person
you nailed this one, david! ‘can’t tell ya how many times i have pushed my luck because my inner-seven-year-old just DIDN’T WANT to stop for gas….why would i rather drive another few miles with my adrenaline rushing and my mind racing with emergency plan B? (don’t answer that…lol) on the bright side, we usually have a coupla gallons of gasoline on hand in the garage….don’t tell my housemates, but, i raid the containers in the morning when i need it to get down the hill to the gas station…task completed!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, you so captured it. I’m doing that Emergency Plan B thing with the mind racing. I so get that!!!! Thanks for sharing…
LikeLiked by 1 person
OMG! David, we would NOT get along. If I were a passenger in your car, I’d be having an angry meltdown. Well, you sure succeeded in getting a reaction with this piece. Well written. You did a great job of conveying the feelings you’re going through, but I would have made my choices on the boring side of life, while you appear to love the stress and excitement of tempting fate.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Laughing. That’s what makes us so unique and special. Opposites attract!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hahaha. You’re quick on your feet. Good thing for someone about to run out of gas. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
The appearance of the Golden Gas Pump on my dash is like the receipt of the recording on Mission Impossible: “Your mission is to drive home from work tonight, drive the children to school in the morning, and then drive back to work without stopping for gas. You might not make it. Do you accept this mission?” Of course, I do, every time!
LikeLiked by 2 people
We are Kin!
LikeLike
I knew it!
LikeLike
lol!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Such an enlightening share…Montana, hmm summer or winter, alone or with family & were you just passing through ( any chance it was on Hwy 2 or US 12) or did you reside there for a spell? Green Bay in February – must have been brutal. So glad you never have run out of gas…/// My husband having grown up in North Dakota with their well know snow blizzards and -20 to -40…one had to be prepared, survival gear box and a full tank of gas, always…/// Only once since I bought my used Avalon Limited 19 months ago has the amber glow of the gas light gone on, this will not happen again… (because I wasn’t ready to renewal my Costco membership which had lapsed…I finally renewed ) drove up to the pump amber light shinning, filled it up and I thought of the Chevron next to my gym (high price gas) visit in which I put a whole $3.00 worth in the tank so I would go out of amber, I made it to Costco a few days later, amber light glowing…Grateful to have a car and money to have a full tank…and within our state on our travels there is a warning sign No Service for either 89 or 98 miles!! Some times the signs will say next services, xxx miles we will come across a sign for so and so ranch you look down that road and you never are able to see the Ranch House…and I wonder how many thousands of acres that ranch is…and in our area so many, many miles of no cell service…
LikeLiked by 2 people
There’s a lot to chew on here Christie. But what move to top of my sensory perception was North Dakota in Winter. Nasty!
LikeLiked by 1 person
yes, i have had the unfortunate experience of not filling the tank before i hit the road in wide-open country…..’spent a white-knuckle drive in a u-haul truck in wyoming at o’dark in february once years ago and ‘figured if i ran outta gas i would freeze to death before anyone else drove by….wow, it’s a big country!….’limped into gillette with .2 gallons to spare…..gulp….my brother was asleep in the truck and i was afraid to wake him and tell him we were probably gonna die….but all’s well that ends well….until it doesn’t…..i don’t go out much any more… 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow! Now that is a story! I would stay in too!
LikeLike
All been there David. You are not alone by any means.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank goodness for that! 😀
LikeLike
Headline: Ego Man Tries to Prove Himself – Survives to Drive an Other Day.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Laughing. A Major Victory!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sometimes I just don’t wanna haha ♡
Diana xo
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is the Truth!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reminds me of an old bit of wisdom: Saying are too busy to exercise is like saying you are too busy driving to stop for gas; eventually it will catch up with you. Here, it was the reverse!
By the way, I love Seneca, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelious. Practical philosophy for any age.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Laughing. True John
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pulling a 27′ trailer, 5 km left in tank, gas station 7 km away…. lucky for us, we are on a hill and coast our way, very properly, I might add, to the resting area… we call AS A and have had delivered.
So, in honour of my late husband, I drove into the gas station with ZERO miles left in my tank not more than two months ago… sooo Not my usual style!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Laughing. Wow. I’ve not been that close. Zero. Now that’s something.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep… matched Mick. He did that once too…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep. Everglades last May. Identical. D.C. beltway in blizzard conditions. And Ethiopia, pushing to the pump on diesel vapor. Had to bleed the air from the whole system. Not flattering…but do I learn. Hardly.
LikeLiked by 1 person
LAUGHING! I would have bet you to be the responsible one. Welcome. Welcome Sister!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Bets tend to be risky 😁
LikeLiked by 1 person
My toughest call? Driving between Silver City and Colorado City (try to find them on the map of Texas), driving alone to a ranch while researching my book about women and guns.
No cell service. No one on the highway, stretching for miles and miles to the horizon — with only pump jacks as far as they eye could see on either side.
Running out gas — do I have enough to turn around and go back for more? Who knows?
I keep driving….and a white pick-up truck slows down and a grizzled old guy at the wheel says “Are you the writer from New York?” Yes, yes, I was; that was the cowboy husband of the woman I had come to interview and stay with.
Safe and sound. But….oy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a story! What a memory! Thanks for sharing…
LikeLike
That whole trip, researching, was amazing.
When I arrived at the ranch, the wife took me to a shed behind the house and opened — with a very long stick — a low, narrow box. Full of rattlesnakes.
Love my life. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow. No chance you can forget THAT!
LikeLike
even better — she gave me a rattlesnake skin wallet. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ha. This story keeps on giving. Wow.
LikeLike
no not imbeciles; but perhaps, we who do such things (not admitting to anything)
seek an element of risk. It is a roll of the dice.
We think, we will win. But, we’re not altogether certain. are we?
LikeLiked by 1 person
We aren’t!
LikeLiked by 1 person
laughing
LikeLiked by 1 person