We are all familiar of the monetary benefits of mustachianism. Although I love those, they are not the inspiration behind this post. I've read other posts about the non-monetary benefits, and this is just another example.
This Friday night, on my way home from work at the end of a long work week, with the wife and 2 young kids waiting to start a fun family weekend together, one of the tires in my car blew out. It's 22 degrees, there is still some snow on the ground from earlier in the week, it's dark, and I just want to get home to see my kids now before they go to bed.
The reaction of "Old Me" (typical non-mustachian complainypants) would have been something along the lines of: Why me? Why can't I get a break? Don't I have it hard enough at work? This is bullshit! Waahhhhh.
Reaction of "New Me" with new mustachian attitude:
-I'm really glad this didn't happen to me on Sunday/Monday with the 1 foot of snow and 0 degree temperatures forecast in our area.
-I'm glad this was Friday (Jeans/Sneakers) vs. any other day (Khaki's/Loafers).
-Good thing I wore a jacket and a coat today which I never do.
-I'm right accross the street from a gas station with an air pump - sweet (it didn't do the trick, but at least I could try).
-I have a lit parking lot to work with now that I'm at this gas station.
-Man I'm glad I keep a set of gloves in the car.
-Bonus, a full size spare!
-Thank you dad for not only teaching me to fix a flat, but for giving me your 4 way tire iron for proper torque.
-After numerous efforts of getting the first lugnut off with no success, very glad to have the car manual as there were some unique tricks to this particular car model.
-Good thing I'm stong enough to break the seal on these lugnuts (if you've ever done this, you know what I mean).
-Shit, I'm glad I have a car, and boy do I really take this for granted too often. This thing really is a magical piece of technology.
All said and done, changing this tire took about an hour out of my life, and will take about another hour to get a set of 4 new tires this week, which is not ideal. However, this was a very nice reminder of what a luxury this car is, it was a good refresher course on how to change a tire, and it was an eye opening experience of being grateful for what I have and for what I'm capable of accomplishing when my back is against the wall.
Thank you MMM for opening my eyes, and thank you to this community for giving me a place to shout from the mountaintops where nearly all who are listening will understand and concur with my feelings and attitude.
Happy 2014 to you all!
Cheddar.