Alright, here is a question for you: Have you ever been too busy to buy gas? Do you know what inevitably happens when you are too busy to buy gas? Well, if you don't know, I will tell you. Eventually, your car starts making these sputtering, popping noises, and then you can't go up a hill, and then, if you are really lucky, you coast onto a side street, park your car, and get some gas. The process of getting gas tends to take far more time than it does to just stop and get some at a gas station (the "conventional" way).
Well, I am not conventional, and I decided to get gas the hard way yesterday. I have been a little busy the last few days, I admit. On Tuesday night, I realized I needed gas. I thought, "No worries, I will pick some up in the morning." Yesterday morning, I was busy at home and started running late, so I thought, "No worries, I will pick some up at lunchtime." I just did not do it at lunchtime, and as I started my car to go home yesterday evening, I thought, "No worries, I will just pick up some gas on the way." The problem is that the first gas station that is "easy" to pull into is not until about 20 miles into my drive.
About 0.9 miles from the gas station, the car died. I was on a semi-ruralesque road in the pouring rain, with no sides walks, ditches on both sides filled with dead leaves and rainwater, no umbrella, no gas can, wearing my brand new (and far too expensive) shoes, and cars zipping past me at about 15 miles over the speed limit. I was totally stuck. My wife decided, in her kindness, to bail me out (I still think I could have made it, though it would have ruined the shoes). While I waiting for her, I thought about how stupid I was for waiting to get gas.
Then I thought about how so often I have complained to myself that I don't have time to exercise, or time to plan meals, or time to eat healthy (hey, it's a lot faster to go to MickyD's than it is to go home and grill some chicken, right?). That is when I realized that saying I don't have time to take care of myself is just as stupid. The problem, both with cars and with our bodies, is that usually the consequences of bad decisions are not immediately apparent. It takes a decent amount of time after the gas light comes on for you to run out of gas (in my case, I thought I could go about 50 miles after the gas light comes on, go figure you can only go 49.1 miles) and it takes a lifetime of eating poorly before heart disease and diabetes pops up.
The real issue, of course, is when there is no gas or no insulin, you are creating a situation that ultimately takes A LOT MORE TIME. Waiting forty minutes for my wife was not convenient--for either of us. Getting diabetes isn't very convenient either. So, I guess the point is, yes, we are all busy, and yes, none of us have time, but maybe it isn't such a bad idea to take a deep breath, pull over, and get what we really need.
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