Another Addiction Cost Me Dearly

Since we’re on the topic of addiction from my Monday email, I have a confession to make.

I’m an addict.

On Monday night I was driving home from adoration at my Catholic Church about 9:30pm. I was in my housing development and making a left turn.

And I was looking down at my phone.

The next thing I knew I was coming to a sudden stop. I ploughed into the back of a parked car. The airbag went off. Fortunately I was not hurt.

And neither was anyone else. I was in the car alone.

These pictures are from the following morning. The other car was a jeep and in much better shape. Still damage though.

I can’t even tell you what was so important that I was looking at on my phone instead of of driving.

It made me think The Lord is warning me. I find myself often glancing at my phone while driving. I have about an hour drive from my home to my assisted living homes. I use that time to listen to podcasts, catch up on phone calls…

…and glance at my phone from time to time.

Monday night was a huge wakeup call. Yesterday morning my wife drove me to my daughter’s house to pick up a spare car for me to drive while we sort this out.

As we came close to my daughter’s home, I noticed this sign by the side of the road.

Seems like The Lord wants to emphasize his point.

I get it. I need to stop.

Yesterday I deleted all the social media apps on my phone. I will interact with social media at home on my laptop only. I’m adding the Focus setting on my phone to let people know I’m driving.

Maybe I’m being a little extreme. But this was a wake-up call. It’s too easy to hop on social media when there is a lull in your day. Pretty soon you’re craving it.

That accident last night made me realize I need to stop craving it. I’m going to spend time on social media posting stuff that hopefully will help others.

Not ‘doom-scrolling’.

So if I don’t answer you right away if you make a comment on my posts or DM me, please understand.

I need to decompress.

More importantly, I share this story to hopefully prevent one of you or one of your family members or friends from suffering a much worse fate than I did.

3,308 people died in accidents from distracted driving in 2022. Almost 290,000 were injured the same year as a result of distracted driving.

All the nutrition, exercise and other stuff you do doesn’t mean squat if you lose your life in an accident.

I was lucky. I truly believe God was trying to convince me to stop. Hopefully I can convince you in a less dramatic way to deal with this problem if you have it.