Car Wash – A Metaphor For Life

 

I keep an immaculate home. I take multiple showers a day most days but somehow my vehicle always manage to look like I live in it. Maybe it’s years of transporting children, friends, gear, dance gear, karate gear, musical instruments,  maybe it’s being somewhat of an event planner and always having event necessities in the car, maybe it’s because I need shoes for all occasions at my disposal, a gym bag always ready, a beach bag always ready… the impromptu stops at thrift stores and consignment shops, but somehow, my car always manage to look like a bomb exploded inside and the outside, no better.

This year I’ve decided I will make a better effort at keeping my vehicle clean. The Hubby takes care of vehicles, I generally just jump in and drive, for a long time I didn’t even pump my own gas (that’s another story) but today I decided I was going to go to the car wash all by myself.

The car was is like a metaphor for life. To start the process, you literally relinquish control. You let go of the brakes and accelerator and put the vehicle in neutral. You have no control as you get navigated through the darkness, (well what feels like darkness) and you have no control over the pace of this process. What’s really happening though, is a thorough scrubbing down – a cleansing of sorts. The grit and grime of past days, washed away, – so that you can come out on the other side bright and shiny!

After the darkness, comes forces of wind from all direction (life again) – the “drying off” process, above, below and both sides you are blasted with these forces, until finally you are let our on the other side, clean and shining and free to make a few choices. What you choose to do after this life washing, is what’s the most important, you can choose to ride out – a bright and shiny outside for a while until life dirties you up again or you can choose to be detailed.

Detailing is a thorough cleaning of every inch inside and out. Here every mat gets picked up, every corner gets vacuumed, every knob gets wiped down. In life if you’ve chosen the detailing, this is where you are starting your transformation. Spiritual Growth, Nutrition, Fitness, Self Care. This process is long, tedious and downright exhausting with plenty of times when you just want to bring it to a halt and go about your business but at the end of it all, even though it’s the same old shell of the vehicle, you leave the car wash looking and feeling brand new!

Repeat process as necessary!