Hi, reader!
A fun animal fact: sloths can hold their breath for up to 40 minutes. Which is 4 times longer than dolphins!
With that, welcome to the 78th newsletter! This newsletter is a bit more practical than my traditional newsletter topics, but I found it important to share. This one is all about Tires.
A wreck.
It was Sunday afternoon. I was alone, driving on the highway to visit a friend.
It began to rain. Hard.
I slowed down with traffic and was going about 60mph (96kmh).
All of a sudden, my car began to spin out of control.
My car did 4 spins and caromed off the highway divider - popping me back out onto the slick road facing the direction I was already going.
My heart was racing. Adrenaline was pumping through me. I checked my rearview mirror and saw a wall of cars 200 meters back. All of which just watched my car spin out of control.
I drove a quarter-mile and settled under an overpass. I was visibly shaking from the experience. I was thankful no cars happened to be next to me when I started spinning. I was grateful that my family wasn’t in the car with me.
I exited the car to survey the damage.
I walked to the back of the car and saw a basketball sized scrape. I took a picture and got back in the car - my gratefulness increasing with each passing minute. I couldn’t believe that was all that happened.
After allowing myself to calm down, I resumed driving. Slowly. The roads eventually cleared and I stopped at a gas station. I walked towards the entrance, and something made me turn around. My eyes settled on the front of my car - where the entire bottom left side was caved in.
Remember when I got out to survey the damage? Turns out I only inspected 1 side of the car.
Remember when I took a picture of the rear of the car? Turns out I took a video, not a picture.
My state of mind was all messed up.
To conclude a long story - my car was fixed (thank you, insurance!) and I walked away without a scratch.
When I took my car to the tire shop after the repair - they said my tires were in need of immediate replacement.
While the rain caused a slick road, it was my tires that caused the spinout.
I had been negligent.
And it could have cost me my life or someone else’s.
A thought.
Grab a coin.
Go to your car.
Insert the coin into your tire's tread groove.
Make sure the head is upside down and facing you.
If you can see all of the head, it’s most likely time to replace your tires.
What’s something you could address today so you don’t spin out tomorrow?
A quote.
“If something is wrong, fix it now. But train yourself not to worry, worry fixes nothing.”
- Earnest Hemingway