Our family bought an old truck recently, and I had the good sense to have the brakes checked out right away.
Good thing. The brakes were shot. The truck needed new brake pads, calipers, rotors, brake lines and a master cylinder. This work was expensive but necessary, and it turned out to be a good metaphor for life.
Many of us baby boomers are in the new position of having our foot on the brakes (not the gas) for the first time in our lives. It's unsettling. We are at a point (or soon will be) when we are asking ourselves when, and how, we plan to slow down.
How do we tap the brakes on our careers? How do we stop overparenting our adult children? How do we learn to slow down when our body is telling us it needs a break?
Well, that's where the auto world provides some guidance. It turns out that the mechanics of stopping an automobile are instructive for people, too. Keep these braking principles in mind as you approach the inevitable slowdown that catches up with us all eventually. Especially us vintage, 1940s- and 1950s-model humans. If we were cars, we would technically be antiques.
- You can't eliminate the friction, so don't try. Going from throttle to braking involves friction. In auto mechanics, the brake pads bite against the rotors (or brake drums) to gradually stop the car.
Too, in life putting on the brakes can generate heat. And too much heat can warp the rotor. In a worse-case scenario, overheated brakes can fail entirely, and that's why we have runaway truck ramps on the sides of mountains.
So, if you are trying to slow down from a career, why not do it gradually. Anticipate the need to slow down, and apply the brakes evenly. Go from full-time to part-time work perhaps. This will keep friction to a minimum and get you to the bottom of the hill without a wreck.
- Using a lower gear saves on wear. One way to save your brakes is to use a lower gear. Same goes for life. Downshifting in life can mean giving a child more independence, or dialing back an exercise load if it is overstressing your body.
- Heed the wear indicators. Brake pads have wear indicators, which are designed to chirp (or ultimately screech) when the pads get too thin. Your body has wear indicators, too, that call out in the form of pain. Anyone facing a hip or knee replacement knows this all too well. If you "listen" to the pain and consult a doctor early, you can avoid some of the long-term distress.
- Pump, don't stomp. Back in the 1970s when I was taking driver's education, we were taught to pump the brakes. Standing on the brakes caused them to lock, which leads to loss of control of the automobile. Thankfully, anti-lock brake technology took care of most of this problem, but it's still important to remember that panic stopping is dangerous.
Same goes for navigating life. Plan your stops. Think ahead. Don't put your life in a ditch because you were too rushed to think about your future when you still had plenty of time to prepare.
- Get regular maintenance. It has always amazed me how many people are religious about preventive maintenance with their cars, but won't get health checkups. Diagnostic testing is so good these days that many chronic diseases can be detected early and treated effectively. But you have to be willing to get checkups.
Email Mark Kennedy at mkennedy@timesfreepress.com.