The breaking point.
Most of us have hit our breaking point at one point, or another. Life has a way of pushing us to our limits. Health, work, finances, or about a million other things can push us to the breaking point. The human body can only take so much stress, before it starts breaking down, but why do we let these issues put us over the edge?
I have been thinking about this a lot lately, because I have been slowly moving toward my breaking point since February. It all started when I lost my job, at first I thought I'd be OK, that I'd just find another job and just keep moving along. I was wrong! My days are spent applying for any and all decent paying jobs, and by decent I mean a job that pays at least $8 an hour, but in 5 months I haven't received one call back. I enjoyed the "vacation" for a bit, but after a week I was ready to go back to work. We've managed to make it so far, but we've recently had some issues come up, which has put us behind on everything.
Issues one and two both came from my car, the first of which was my AC just dying out of the blue. I checked the freon, fuses, wiring and I was finally able to determine it was the center control panel. No biggie, I could hold off on fixing this and just do without AC.
The second issue with my car wasn't something I could put off, the air pressure valve on my driver side front tire was leaking, so it would have to be replaced. Sadly, my car has a tire pressure monitoring system, which means it required a specific valve for it to operate correctly. I was fortunate though, because I could still use a normal air pressure valve, I would just have to deal with a light on the dash til I could fix it properly. So instead of $40 I got by with spending $3, so not too bad.
Unfortunately, I wasn't going to get off cheap on the third issue. After spending all day out in the heat, and having to deal with changing the air valve, all I wanted to do was come home and relax....But that wasn't going to happen. I was unloading the groceries and I didn't even make it to the door before my wife comes running out telling me our hot water heater had busted. Luckily it wasn't the actual tank, just a water supply line, but our bathroom floor is ruined. A $13 hose caused a couple of grand worth of damage, a couple of grand that I don't have at the moment.
So there you have it, those tree things pushed me over the edge.
At the end of the day it isn't so bad, I am still living, I still have an amazing wife, so I know it could be worse. But in those moments when it seems like the next event is going to be worse than the previous, the stress breaks you down, and you give in to it. Money can be a big headache at times, but we can still survive without it. We may not have the new car, or ability to live a luxurious lifestyle without money, but you can still have happiness, and for that I am thankful.
