Building Reliable Response

Last night, I found myself in an unfortunate situation – driving home on back roads through a torrential thunderstorm. In that moment, I was driving home from work, and so thankful for my AT training.

I found my mind racing toward all sorts of what-ifs in what felt like a scary moment. What if lightning struck a tree nearby? What if said tree came crashing down across the road in front of me, dragging power lines with it? Or worse? I felt overwhelmed for a moment.

Then, somehow, I noticed that my mind was spiraling, and I brought myself back down to earth. I did this by checking in with my body, and noticed a tightness in my belly, clueing me in to the fact that I was forgetting to let myself breathe.

This tightness also let me know that I was not allowing my weight to be supported by my seat, supported by the car, supported by the road and earth below me.

I began to SLOW DOWN in my thinking AND my driving. I let the car support me, and I felt a bit more connected to the vehicle itself.

This reminded me to check in with my sensory awareness even MORE. I began to notice my peripheral vision, which helped me feel a bit more grounded and safe, and more aware of my surroundings.

I realized the lightning was not as often nor as near as I had initially thought. I loosened my grip on the steering wheel, and noticed the car behind me (which had been right on my tail at the beginning of this drive) was now a distant set of headlights in my rearview mirror. 

Even though I still couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of myself on the road, I was not resisting in my body or creating resistance with my car. Instead I was reliably responding to the shifting circumstances around me.

As I safely pulled into my driveway, with gratitude, I made a mental note to never take that route again during a storm!