Is the gas half empty or half full?

When I drive I always have my eye on the gas indicator in my car.  For whatever reason I am so paranoid about running out of gas every time I get behind the wheel.  I am scared the car will just stop running, I am scared I will get stranded, I am scared of how I will get the car to start once it stops moving.  It might be helpful to know that this has never happened to me (fingers crossed). I have had other car troubles and have had to be rescued before, sure.  But my irrational fear of the gas running out has yet to happen.

My little habit is to get to a gas station when I see my gas tank dip down to a half a tank or just below.  If it gets to a quarter of a tank left, I am internally freaking out about it and will be late to wherever I am going to make sure I get gas.  And when I get gas, I always fill up. No questions about that. I’ll never be one to just get a few dollars of gas just to get above empty.

I realize that not everyone has this same method of handling their gas.  My husband has no issue waiting until he is empty, the gas light has already come on, and he has just a few miles left.  He also has never run out of gas on the road. Go figure.

My friend and I had previously discussed my gas paranoia.  I explained to her that ever since I was a teenager and started driving I always had to make sure I had enough gas.  If my tank wasn’t full basically I would get nervous about being on empty. We laughed about it. She, on the other hand, had no problems driving until her tank was empty and then would fill up.  She asked me if I would go to the gas station for just half a tank of gas and I said yes, all the time. I realize that this makes me totally gas crazy! What’s the point of filling up on gas if you don’t let it empty before you fill it up again?

This same friend told me (awhile later) that it happened to her, she ran out of gas on the road! And she was in a dangerous spot where cars were going fast.  She had to wait over an hour for a tow and a cop had stopped to help her (so thankfully). She had a big scare but thank goodness everyone is okay. A little rattled, but safe.

After hearing her story I almost want to carry around gallons of gas in my trunk (I realize this is not safe, so I won’t) and getting her some to put in her trunk too. I think that all the “what ifs” in life and the possibilities of things happening really get to me. I am one of those people that has a mini first aid kit in her purse all the time. I have extra everything in my car (resulting in such a messy car). I like to have backups of my backups. I guess it means I play it safe but I think that sometimes the stress and worry of the “what ifs” isn’t even worth it. Things happen and we will just have to figure it out and roll with it.

I think this basically translates to my living in fear all the time of something happening. That makes me sad because that’s not what I want. Ideally I would like to just do life as it is and roll with the punches. Not being worried about what’s always lurking around the corner.

I am normally more of an optimistic person when it comes to most things in life. But for things like gas in the car, I am a pessimist. But I think I may need to lighten up!