Puke In The Car Seat

You quickly realize how many crevices there are in a car seat when your child pukes in one.

I was lucky enough to discover this particular level of hell while driving on the highway about 2 hours from home. The best part is that when you're approximately 3 years old and struck with motion sickness, you're strapped so tight into a car seat, you can't do anything but barf all over yourself and the car seat with its multitude of crevices.

I remember that night pretty clearly, mostly because it was kind of traumatic for all involved and because it was so gross.

There was plenty of time to reflect on what could have been done differently as I carefully disassembled the sodden car seat in the driveway the next day so I could hose down and scrub its many intricate parts and then (hopefully) put it back together.

Hindsight is 20/20. I learned to purchase a portable barf bucket (that still lives in my car even though my kids have outgrown the motion sickness in that it only makes them have a headache, not full on boot.) I realized that I would need to release the tension on the car seat so a kid can lean forward if they need to use the bucket. I keep plastic bags and paper towels in the car.

When you look back on mistakes that were made, you see the things you could have, would have, should have done differently. It doesn’t help to beat yourself up about it, although as humans our brains are fond of doing that so that we really REALLY learn the lesson.

It’s like when you have a run in with a random jerk and think of a clever and scathing retort only hours after the interaction and the jerk is long gone from your life. Your brain has time to reflect and ponder. You can see things from a different lens.

The thing about hindsight is that it gives you distance and perspective that's impossible to have when you're in the thick of it. When you're stressed about the traffic or getting to your destination on time, you miss the signs that your kid is starting to feel queasy.

A coach is like having that hindsight perspective in real time - someone on the outside looking in who can see patterns you're too close to notice. Maybe you always pack too much into your schedule. Maybe you consistently ignore early warning signs because you're focused on the wrong things. Maybe you beat yourself up for 'mistakes' that were actually just part of learning.

When you're in the driver's seat of your own life, it's hard to see the bigger picture. But someone with an outside view can spot the patterns before they turn into vomit-car-seat level disasters.

If you're ready to break those patterns before they turn into metaphorical (or literal) road trip calamities, reach out. Let's see if we're a good fit.