PARKED CAR CONVERSATIONS & THOUGHTS
Any person who grew up in a small town knows that the art of "cruising" is not to be taken for granted. Despite there being nothing to do, groups of friends would often partake in driving aimlessly around their home town in laps, talking, singing & laughing. There's no better way to pass a lunch hour or afternoon than driving around the streets with no intentions of doing anything productive besides wasting gas. Anyone who has "cruised" the streets knows that they're in for a good time, but the best conversations and friend bonding time comes from paused tires & a pulled "E" break.
Parked car conversations are most often the holy grail for figuring out lifes stressful issues. You can't get away from the person in your car. You're invested in what they are saying with little-to-no distractions present.
Lately I've been burnt out & tired. Dragging my feet to endless over-time night shifts & trying to sleep whenever possible. I haven't felt a rush of energy in a while now, and all the credit for anything I've gotten accomplished can be credited to coffee. Too many cups of coffee. As it turns out, the cost of independence is more than just a financial price, it takes a toll on every aspect of life.
Stress has seemed to kick in, and of course it never kicks in slowly or lightly. Stress comes in overdrive at full force, knocking me off my feet. Learning to cope with the stress around me has been tough. It's all new stress- a stress I haven't had to deal with before. Paying bills, a full time job, a long distance relationship (with the man of my dreams) & of course with that all, less time for social life.
So my life has been feeling very stressful & I'm very thankful for my people. They help me stand when I can't feel my own feet. Living away from home is full of new experiences and people who have stepped into my life. I can't thank them enough for the endless support that they offer to me. My life had never felt this stressful before and I was nearing wits end when a parked car conversation saved the last of the sanity I had left in me (or so it seemed, anyway).
A best-friend therapy session of two alike minds can never be unappreciated. Instead of stressing about life, we talked about the good. The sunset we were watching and the things we looked forward too. We talked about the future, and how we are excited about it, but to know that the potential problems in the future are only to be worried about in the future. We talked about good things, memories of friends and summer nights. We talked about things we've gotten better at, like how much better we have gotten at paying bills and doing our dishes before our counter looks like a war zone. We talked about self improvement and believing in ourselves. Most of all we talked about being proud. Of ourselves, & each other. We reminded each other that through thick and thin, we will be each others support system.
This week has been draining (to say the very least), but a parked car conversation saved me from loosing my grip.
