Jordan ZangaroI went to the bank and my car was fine. I went to the gym and my car was fine. I went to the PAC and my car was fine. I left the PAC and my car was definitely not fine.

For no reason at all, my car started to make an alarming, grinding sound. I drove through campus slowly, but in a complete panic as the noise grew louder and louder. I still had a bunch of errands to run that I had been putting off, so I just turned up the music to convince myself that it was not happening.

Every time I got back into my car, I would say a small prayer that it would just go away and I wouldn’t have to call my dad to tell him. Causing two accidents and then getting in a third which totaled my car is not only something I am embarrassed about but has also given me a terrible reputation. I knew, even though this time I really did not do anything, my dad was going to think I crashed again.

The noise never went away. Starting to worry about my safety and the safety of the people I have in my car, I finally made the call home. Surprisingly, my dad was not upset and was just happy that I let him know and helped me figure out my next step.

This is the first time I have been living with my own car in a city different from my parents. It is my first car that I have put money into and I tend to get nervous about getting into trouble all too quickly. If there is a problem, no matter what caused it, you need to fix it. I made the car issue into such a bigger problem than it needed to be and could have potentially put myself in danger.

Sometimes finding a solution to the problem is worse than dealing with the initial incident. It is scary and uncertain and, more times than not, you may be making it worse by overthinking it.

You can’t find a solution if you don’t own up to the problem.