Have You Tried Turning It Off And Back On Again?

So once my radiator on my car broke and i needed it fixed. And I know nothing about cars except for if it looks cool or not. And I was driving around in a car with a broken radiator for like 2 days up this this moment in time when everything just broke. And i figured that now would be the essential time to ask for help. Which goes with this “Being Able to Ask for Help: While being resourceful is an important part of resilience, it is also essential to know when to ask for help.”

It was like 9 PM, I was on my way home when my car which was absolutely freezing was telling me that it was overheating. And that was a red flag for me. When you can see your breath and your hands are numb yet your car is the warmest its ever been. Like that just does not add up. My car was leaking radiator fluid and my car overheated, Luckily just as this was happening I was pulling up at a gas station. I looked under my car and it looked like I was leaking Gatorade. So I knew something was bad. I bought more radiator fluid but I had to wait for my car to cool off, I know a little about cars and I know you should not take the radiator cap off when the car overheats. So I had to play the waiting game and wait for my car to cool off. Which I didn’t think would take long since it was -6 in the middle of winter.

My friend was at this gas station and he noticed I needed some help. He looked at it and thought I had a cut hose or a crack in my radiator. I did the usual thing that any idiot male with a car would do. I was all like “nah man I got this.” And he left which was stupid of me to do. There was a solid 15 min of me standing in front of my car looking under the hood. Looking like an idiot. I was just standing their thinking to myself “yup that’s the engine.” and its the middle of winter so I am freezing. There would be times were I would just touch the engine to heat my hands up.

I eventually came to the conclusion that I needed my friends help But I cant just call him up and be like “yeah your right I am an idiot.” so I did the only thing I new I could do… I just called another friend. He lived like 3 minutes away. He came and looked at the car and said the same thing as the other friend. He told all the things that are wrong with it. We waited together for my car to cool down and he followed me home ready to tow me. Just in case my car overheated again.

I brought it to the shop a couple of days later and told them what my friends thought the problem was. They fixed it and everything has been fine since. It may not be quite as extreme as Louie Zamperini and his story of survival and hardship but I think its still something at least, so just remember that if you are ever in a pickle always ask for help when you can.

Photo by Infernal elf on Foter.com / CC BY-NC