Conquering fear - baby step style
I conquered a fear recently. Perhaps it wouldn't be considered a big deal to anyone else, but it was to me. I drove in the snow. We took a trip to Tahoe last weekend and there was a nifty winter storm going on that weekend. I think it dumped 2 feet of snow where we were. I drove to Tahoe while it was snowing and there was snow on the ground as well. Just thinking of doing something like that normally would cause my palms to sweat and my stomach to drop to my knees and nausea would become a state of being. But I just did it. At one point I slipped the truck into 4WD (I LOVE my truck!!) and the confidence just grew as time and the road stretched on. Even as we watched someone try to make a left turn and end up just traveling sideways down the road, I drove on, feeling good. Oh.... all was not perfect. I did manage to get the truck stuck. In the driveway of the cabin we were staying in. It provided for a bit of humor. It was a problem to be solved and at only one point I felt "I Can't Do This." as the truck was at a nifty angle crossways in the road. But I breathed deeply and we shoveled.... okay so my friend Linda shoveled mostly... finally with a bit of power from the truck and some fancy maneuvering on my part we popped out and we were good to go.
And with that, I have conquered my fear of driving in the snow!
Next!
Comments
I learned how to drive in the snow so snow/driving stories are always funny to me!!!
I was headed down to Santa Barbara on January 23rd, in the middle of that weird, really cold storm. I happened to be traversing SR 41 at the exact moment it started to snow...and snow and snow...worse, it was sticking to the road.
They closed SR 41 with about 100 cars on the road...I was smack dab in the middle of the line.
For 2 hours we watched the snow equivalent of a torrential downpour. (It was beautiful by the way)
I had just bundled up the girls to get out and play (it was 8PM, the temps were dropping, and it was pretty obvious we could be there for many more hours!!!) when CHP showed up and told each car, 1 at a time, that "you could proceed at your own risk, don't stop, leave plenty of room between you and the vehicle in front of you, and if you got into a crash, we (CHP) don't want to hear about it!"
Seat-belted the girls back in and began to inch along the 6.6 miles of snow covered Hwy that lay between me and SR 46.
About 1 mile into the drive, we came to a steep downhill. The cars in front of me slammed on their brakes...the Mustang 3 cars up fishtailed and slid all over the road. I dropped it down to first gear and continued to creep along (brakes are foolish in the snow) hoping that the cars in front of me wouldn't brake hard enough to make me follow suit.
The scariest part of the entire 6.6 miles was the idiot behind me, obviously not familiar with snow driving, who rode my bumper (in my BRAND NEW VAN) all the way down the hill.
Anyway...the point of this long story is exactly what I stated before I wrote the long story...(I'll repeat it now in case you forgot LOL!) "I learned how to drive in the snow so snow/driving stories are always funny to me!!!"
Thanx for sharing yours.
It really is quite an accomplishment to be able to drive in the snow...
I think my driving on freeway stories probably sound like your snow story! LOL!
Way to go!