What Muddy Floor Mats Taught Me about What’s Possible

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“The only thing that stands between a man and what he wants from life is often merely the will to try it and the faith to believe that it is possible.” ~David Viscott

About ten years ago, I learned a valuable lesson about having to be open to unforeseen and highly unlikely possibilities.  Not only did I learn about being open to possibilities, I became quite aware that sometimes possibilities exist in even the most mundane and seemingly routine circumstances in life.  Sometimes you are looking for them, but many times you don’t consider them until you are literally forced to.

A confusing situation

I was visiting a local high school to talk to students about an opportunity to be part of a summer theatrical production for teenagers.  After my visit, I went out to the parking lot and unlocked my car with the keyless remote.  I climbed inside the car, and upon placing the key in the ignition, it would not turn.  “Curious,” I thought.  I checked to make sure I had the right key for the right vehicle, which I did.  I then considered that sometimes, in some vehicles, if you have the steering wheel turned upon turning off a vehicle, sometimes the steering wheel lock can make it difficult to turn the key, so I pulled the steering wheel in both directions while attempting to turn the key.  It still didn’t turn.  I thought that perhaps the car wasn’t completely in “park;” sometimes when you stop the car in a gear, the car will turn off, but then you can’t start it until it’s in the “park” position.  That was a negative; the car was in park.  Now I was getting really confused!

I thought that maybe it was something with the lock to the car; perhaps somehow the car didn’t lock correctly, and that was causing the ignition issue (I know this sounds silly, but if your key isn’t turning in the ignition, then you are open to all sorts of ideas!).  I started locking and unlocking the vehicle, using both the locks within the car and the lock mechanism on the keyless remote.  That didn’t work either — the key still did not move.

At this point, I wasn’t quite sure what to do.  As I was looking throughout the vehicle for answers (as if looking around is going to get a key to move), I glanced at the floor mats in the car.  I noticed that they were sort of disheveled and very muddy.  This seemed out of the ordinary; while I don’t usually keep an immaculate car, I rarely have such dirty floor mats.  And, I wasn’t walking through any mud.  I was confused, but I had bigger issues to think about rather than some unusually dirty floor mats.

I looked around a bit more, and then it hit me.  I glanced at the console that has the climate controls and the radio.  My vehicle had a CD player and a cassette player.  I gasped, and my heart skipped a beat.  The vehicle I was sitting in was not equipped with a CD player! It only had a cassette player where I was accustomed to seeing my CD player!  I was in someone else’s vehicle!

It’s amazing how quickly, yet nonchalantly I made my way out of the vehicle.  I had found myself in the middle of a highly unlikely, yet possible scenario — Someone owned the exact same vehicle as I, down to the same color.  Not only did our vehicles look the same, but the keyless remote was set the exact same way as well!  After I knew that I was in the wrong vehicle, I tested and retested the locks on the car, and sure enough — it locked and unlocked as I pressed the appropriate buttons on the remote!  Thank goodness the keys weren’t the same, otherwise I would have driven off with someone else’s car!

Rather unlikely, yet possible

In this situation, I was faced with having to consider multiple possibilities.  Finally, I was essentially forced to consider a valid possibility — the possibility that there may be someone with the same exact car with a remote that works for both.  I would venture to guess that the statistical probability of all of those things occuring as they did on that day is very small.  I should have played the lottery that day!  Once I learned that such a scenario was not only possible, but that it could very well occur, my mind became open to the fact that this same scenario could very well indeed play out any time in the future.

Victims of circumstance

How many times do we stay embedded in the status quo?  We may grumble and complain about present circumstances; we may think or remark about how other people have things we don’t; we may worry about changes that may occur in the future.  In each of these cases, we remain entrenched as a victim of circumstance, with no real power to make a change.  At this point, we have two choices, we can continue to remain as a victim, simply reacting to circumstances as they occur, or we can empower ourselves by proactively seeking out the possibilities that exist.

Sometimes we don’t learn about the possibilities that exist until we are forced to seek them.  Sometimes we don’t want to think about the possibilities because it’s scary and uncomfortable.  In cases like this, I ask myself if the pain of being unhappy or not having what I know I can get is worse than the discomfort of finding out how to get what I want.  Usually, I find that I am more happy seeking possible solutions to my current problems, rather than wallowing in self-pity and worry about what I don’t have or what I want to go after.

Take control!  Proactively seek possibilities!

Empower yourself today!  Seek out proactive measures to go after whatever it is that you wish to have in life!  Believe in yourself, push past the fear and put yourself in control of your own future!  You are no longer allowed to call yourself a victim!  You can do it!  Anything is possible!