“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time”

Every year we start by reminiscing about our memories, reflecting on the past 12 months and looking forward to the resolutions we made.

Every morning, I always try to set my mind to the right direction, think positively, control my emotions, think of something to be grateful for etc. and I go and anticipate great things.

So it is the 2^nd day of the first month of the year, as sad as I am to leave my family behind after Christmas, I am excited about my so called resolutions.

It is just after 9:00, driving back to Port Elizabeth, I check my navigator and it shows that I am 6 hours to reaching my destination, and my heart is filled with more excitement. I will probably arrive in PE around 3 o clock, maybe I will go and have a cold one by the beach.

Oh JA I already mentioned how excited about I am about the great things that will be happening this year. It is just me and my Suzuki Alto, man the lateral acceleration connects me to this beautiful machine, and it’s like a horse and a rider, together in a perfect harmony. Feeling the smooth road and the connection of how much grip my Alto has. Through the ticking minutes my hands pick up through the steering wheel and the journey continues.

WAIT!!! Was that a pothole? How come didn’t I see it? Oh God now a tree? Pheew!!!…I almost hit it. Please don’t tell me that I lost control of the car, come on Alto we can do this.

In control Alto responds to me, like Michael Knight’s car “KITT” would respond to him. I wish I could say it was like a dance ballet with a car and the driver, but that was not the case. A huge BANG!! That was the next sound I heard with my body hanging and held to the side supported by the seat belt.

Ever heard of a saying “You never know when will be your last breath”. I am sure you have, and trust me this is one of the saddest part of our reality, “not knowing when will be your last breath”. Millions of thoughts quickly flash through my mind, how will everyone remember me? My family? My career? My goals? My dreams? My purpose in this world?…oh Wait I can still think, so this means I am alive!

Many times people come out of accidents completely changed, and find it is difficult to talk about the experience, they actually prefer not to talk about it at all. I don’t know how justified I am to talk about my life threatening event. I remember it very well, how it feels like to be unsure of whether I will make it alive or not, how worried and frighten I was, and how it feels to have my life and future at stake. Yes being involved in an accident is very traumatic and I understand why most people don’t want to talk about it. But I prefer sharing the experience as I use it to focus on a better future. There’s always something good out of every situation no matter how bad it is.

Understanding you have control over your emotions and actions is the first step towards overcoming any traumatic situation, this enables you to remain calm no matter how bad things might look.

An accident is “an unfortunate incident that happen unexpectedly and unintentionally, typically resulting in damage or injury”, as referred to on the dictionary.

You may not be able to change everything that happens around you, an accident is one those you cannot undo or control, but you can change how you react and behave in challenging situations and the direction you choose next.

Motivation, dreams, goals, focusing on forward movement will not only keep you from remaining stuck in the past, but it will also purify your thoughts. In the end after you overcome those struggles you can look back and see the strength in your pain. You can rarely recover what you lost, but you can still have EVERYTHING to gain.

Article by Pamela Kunene

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