Coffee and Accidents

I was reading the news this morning and noticed a headline:

"Reaching for coffee cup leads to three car accident." 

The woman who caused this accident didn't wake up that morning and say to herself "I won't reach for the coffee this morning." If you bring coffee in your car, you will reach for it.

Coffee is different from phones, however. Phones are not usually brought into our cars just for texting, or searching the web. Coffee, on the other hand, is usually brought into the car to be drunk.

Unfortunately, this woman reaching for coffee could have been me. Many mornings I grab my lunch bag, my work bag, my workout bag, and my purse, and balance the coffee in my hand, with the four bags dangling from my forearms.

I narrowly escape the retaining walls that brush on my side as I try to get into the car. Three bags go in the back, but my purse and my coffee stay with me and ride in the prime front seat alongside the me.

"If I ever get distracted, before the car veers, I will just drop my coffee. I'd rather spill coffee than get into an accident," I think. But I know that's not true.

I have juggled this morning circus event for many years. I have grown to understand that the brain doesn't think logically to drop the coffee if there is a problem. My brain sends the message to my arm, then my hand, then my fingers, to hold onto the coffee. And my eyes follow.

The woman who reached for her coffee cup has probably had a similar self-conversation before leaving home. She probably simply took her eyes off of the road, looked for the coffee, leaned over, and the wheel of the car went with her. There could have been a thousand scenarios that might have unfolded in reaching for that coffee. Thankfully no one was hurt, but this was a reminder to me to slow down, juggle less, and leave the coffee behind.

A metaphor for my life/work balance.