The $2,500 Detour: Why Your Breakdown is Actually an Upgrade

It’s 10:30 PM on a graduation weekend, you’re two hours from your destination, and your dashboard just lit up like a Christmas tree. Most people would call this a nightmare; Jason and Jana Shelfer call it a prequel to an adventure. In this high-stakes episode of the Living Lucky® Podcast, we take you behind the scenes of a real-life mechanical breakdown—complete with an 18-year-old dog, a wheelchair, and a bucket-list deadline.

This isn't just a travel story; it’s a manual for emotional resilience. We unpack the logistics of a late-night tow and a busted water pump, but more importantly, we reveal the "mechanical reality" of choosing your lens on purpose. From the unexpected kindness at Toyota South in Richmond, KY, to the moment we realized we were exactly where we were meant to be, this episode is a roadmap for turning an "inconvenience" into a milestone.

Inside this episode, you will discover:

• The AAA Mindset: Navigating the logistics of a breakdown without collapsing into a doom loop.
• Reframing the Cost: How to see a $2,500 repair as an investment in adventure rather than a loss.
• The Wayne Dyer Pivot: Applying the truth that "when you change how you look at things, the things you look at change."
• Relationship Grace: How to stay connected, humorous, and supportive when fatigue and uncertainty hit at once.
• Bucket List Courage: A reveal of Jana’s secret swim competition and why "no expectations" is a superpower.

Stop viewing detours as delays. Hit play and learn how to find the gift in the breakdown.

🎯 KEY NUGGETS

• Setbacks are Prequels: Every "ruined night" is just the opening scene of a better story if you refuse to play the victim.
• What is this Adding?: Instead of asking "What is this taking away?", ask "What is this moment adding to my perspective, my relationships, or my path?"
• Grace is a Skill: Choosing humor over a "funk" isn't a personality trait; it’s a daily practice of the Living Lucky® philosophy.
• The Synchronicity Scan: When you look for the right people at the right time (like Dalton, Joe, and Kelly), you find them.
• Feelings Follow Focus: When you change how you feel about a situation, the entire experience evolves.
  Living Lucky, mindset coachi

Transcript

Turning Negativity Into Momentum

Jana Shelfer 0:00

Are you ready to create a life you crave? Let's spin that doom loop of negativity into an upward success cycle and start Living Lucky®.

Jason Shelfer 0:14

Good morning.

Jana Shelfer 0:16

I'm Jana. I'm Jason. And we are Living Lucky®.

Jason Shelfer 0:19

You are too.

Jana Shelfer 0:21

We are in. Where are we?

Jason Shelfer 0:23

We're in Richmond, Kentucky.

Jana Shelfer 0:25

Oh well, thank you for that.

Jason Shelfer 0:26

I didn't know either.

Jana Shelfer 0:29

We've had the craziest 24 hours.

Jason Shelfer 0:32

We had a little car trouble on the road last night around 10.30 p.m. Which never happens to us.

Jana Shelfer 0:38

However, we were driving and all of a sudden I heard well, not even before the bing.

Jason Shelfer 0:46

We heard some noises.

Jana Shelfer 0:49

And I was like, did we just run over a duck? Sounded like we just ran over something.

Jason Shelfer 0:54

It was some under-the-hood noises, but it's it sounded like maybe just some paper or some plastic got caught up underneath the in in the front grille of the car.

Jana Shelfer 1:04

And so we kept driving, and then a little while later, we we hear the lights start coming on and all the bells and whistles starting. Yeah, the dashboard lights. That's exactly what happened.

Jason Shelfer 1:20

Oh Christmas. And he Christmas on the dashboard.

Jana Shelfer 1:22

At this point, we were literally an hour from our destination. Two hours.

Jason Shelfer 1:28

We're still about two hours out. Yeah. Okay.

Jana Shelfer 1:29

So two hours.

Jason Shelfer 1:30

It's hard to see from the back seat, Miss Daisy.

Jana Shelfer 1:33

I know. So I say to Jason, I I really think that means we need to pull over. And he's like, duh.

Jason Shelfer 1:41

Yeah, because I'm I'm I'm one that likes to power through, but when it's your when it's the mechanical aspects of things like a car, you're like, let's not chance that.

Jana Shelfer 1:50

He's like, Yes, honey, we're in that's why we're going 40 miles per hour with the house. And we're in the very, very right hand lane trying to slow down.

Jason Shelfer 2:03

Hugging that emergency lane over here.

Jana Shelfer 2:05

I'm in the backseat thinking, I don't know what we're gonna do. I don't know how I can help in this situation.

Jason Shelfer 2:12

Don't know exactly where we are, when's the next exit? You've been working in the back seat and then also kind of keeping tater company.

A Bucket List Swim Meet Reveal

Jana Shelfer 2:18

And we literally need to be in our at our destination to which is today, yeah, by three o'clock, which is kind of a secret of why we're here. Yeah, but because you're listening, I will let you know. I am marking off a bucket list item. Yep. I have entered a swim competition.

Jason Shelfer 2:40

Hey, well, you know what? You marked off a bucket list item in September of 2024 with water skiing.

Jana Shelfer 2:46

Let's still set any expectations. We're not setting expectations.

Jason Shelfer 2:49

We didn't set expectations back then. We're not setting expectations right now. We're just marking off the item.

Jana Shelfer 2:54

No, I literally was Googling in the car. How long is the pool? Is it 25 meters or 50 meters? Right. Uh so I know I do not know anything about this sport. I am kind of starting from scratch. When I say kind of, I've swum. See, I don't even know. Swim, swam, swim.

Jason Shelfer 3:12

Past tens of so you've been in a pool before, is what you're saying.

Jana Shelfer 3:16

You've been all my life I've been in a pool. Yep.

Jason Shelfer 3:18

And you've also been in the lake. So, and we've done triathlons. So you have been you know how to swim.

Jana Shelfer 3:25

I know how to swim.

Jason Shelfer 3:26

But you've never competed.

Jana Shelfer 3:27

I've never competed or compoded. You say compete.

Jason Shelfer 3:36

So here we are in Richmond, which is with car trouble, two hours outside of Cincinnati, which is where we're headed.

Jana Shelfer 3:43

Correct.

Jason Shelfer 3:44

And now we've got to call a tow truck, we've got to get a rental car at 10:30 at night, get a hotel room. So it's just one of those things where people might look from the outside looking in and go, and you still think you're Living Lucky®?

Jana Shelfer 3:59

Yeah.

unknown 3:59

Okay.

Jana Shelfer 4:00

And there are a couple more layers to this. One is we have our dog in tow.

Jason Shelfer 4:06

And we've got the car packed.

Jana Shelfer 4:07

18 years old.

Jason Shelfer 4:08

Our car is because we're on we're actually not just on a singular mission, we're on like a two-week trip.

Jana Shelfer 4:14

Because after this swim meet, we're going somewhere else, which I can't say because it's because it really is a secret. Yes. And then uh so we've got all that, we've got my wheelchair, and you know, it's not like I can just hop out of the car and say, Okay, you know what? I'm gonna take care of while you're under the hood.

Jason Shelfer 4:34

That's right.

Jana Shelfer 4:35

Uh so there were a lot there was a lot happening, and in fact, uh, we pull over and Jason says, I'm just gonna get us an Uber to go to a hotel. Um, and I say, I there's a hotel right there, like it's right across the street.

Jason Shelfer 4:51

It's a tenth of a mile.

Jana Shelfer 4:53

And Jason says, We can't cross this street with all of our stuff, and we just all of us.

Jason Shelfer 5:03

We just made we we asked the car to make it that one more tenth of a mile.

Jana Shelfer 5:07

So I'm like, well, I'm not getting an Uber just to cross the street. That feels that feels crazy. Hey, can you drive us across the street?

Jason Shelfer 5:16

So we we literally that's just a lot more explaining to do to an Uber driver. Like it's gonna take longer to explain to the Uber driver while we're asking for a ride across the street.

Hotel Logistics With Dog And Gear

Jana Shelfer 5:25

We probably need two Ubers to carry all of our stuff. Very true. That's the other thing. Okay, so we get to the hotel. They luckily had a room in the inn.

Jason Shelfer 5:36

Yeah, because it's also graduation night. There's apparently there's a college here in Richmond.

Jana Shelfer 5:41

And then, so then this morning Jason gets up early, early and he calls a tow truck.

Jason Shelfer 5:47

Triple A. Thank you, Triple A.

Toyota South Steps Up Fast

Jana Shelfer 5:49

And they tow our car to the nearby Toyota dealership, which Toyota has been our hero.

Jason Shelfer 5:58

This Toyota South here in Richmond has been the hero of the day.

Jana Shelfer 6:02

Hero of our I mean, we've had other trips where Toyota has come to the rescue.

Jason Shelfer 6:07

Toyota typically has been one of the best experiences wherever we go because we love to drive. That's what I we have just said that's one of our big huddles.

Jana Shelfer 6:17

And this is your third Toyota, right? Yeah we've had three of these.

Jason Shelfer 6:22

And and we've so we ourselves have had three, and our whole our family, we've got right now in the family five or six Highlanders just spread out throughout the family.

Jana Shelfer 6:31

Because you love it so much, you have influenced your family.

Jason Shelfer 6:33

And I I make everybody get in it and go for a ride with me because it lasts forever and it and it drives great. So it's uh we get to Toyota South, and the sir, they've got a bay full of cars waiting before they even open. But this uh guy from service, Dalton, comes out, meets me at the tow truck. How can I help you? Do you have an appointment this morning? No, I don't, but this is the situation, right? And he says, Oh my gosh, let me see what we can do for you. And he goes and gets the service tech Joe. And Joe comes out and he looks and he goes, Let me get it up on the lift for you. And they lift it up. We've got it's not a it's not the big problem I thought it might be. Yeah, but it was a busted water pump, and it's gonna take some work because you it's hard to get to the water pump in these newer vehicles.

Jana Shelfer 7:20

Yeah.

Jason Shelfer 7:20

So it's gonna be longer than we have to wait since we have to be in Cincinnati and be in the pool by three o'clock. And then they give us a loaner vehicle, which typically that's hard to come by at a dealership these days.

Jana Shelfer 7:33

Oh, it is. Yeah, you don't even know.

Jason Shelfer 7:36

It's usually you go get a rental car, like I was planning on the rental car, all these things.

Jana Shelfer 7:40

Get my car tuned up, and I sit in the lobby and drink their little coffee and scones.

Jason Shelfer 7:45

Well, because typically we go every 5,000 miles to get our oil change, even though typically right now that they say you can go 10,000, but we're we travel so much we go often. Yeah, it's like we go to the dentist.

Jana Shelfer 7:56

We go every two months. We're like, nope, I'm staying on top of this.

Jason Shelfer 8:00

We're we're we love our teeth, we love our cars, let's let's take care of everything. So they Dalton calls the GM and says, Hey, can we get them a loaner car? They're going out of state. We typically don't allow them to go out of the out of the state, out of the city. GM makes an exception.

Jana Shelfer 8:18

Let's just give Dalton a hip hip.

Jason Shelfer 8:20

Hoorays! Hip hip. Hooray. And just Toyota South. The whole experience. Kelly came down, took care of the paperwork for the loaner car. She was amazing. All everybody there. Yeah, her son Emmanuel has the same birthday as me. He passed away, unfortunately, six years ago, but it was just a beautiful story.

Reframing The Story As Purpose

Jana Shelfer 8:44

Sometimes feel like a synchronicity.

Jason Shelfer 8:46

Yeah. So when we look at Living Lucky, how is this happening for us? It turns the whole story into we did good meet the right people came into our path at the right time in the right situation. And I'm I'm convinced we were meant to be here in Richmond today.

Jana Shelfer 9:05

I think challenges sometimes are your biggest gifts. 100%. And may I mean who knows? Who knows why we were meant to be here? I don't know. Maybe it was so that we could meet the people at Toyota, maybe it was so that we could get better sleep. Maybe it was to get us off the road because we had been traveling all day.

Jason Shelfer 9:25

And it could have just been so that we so maybe it was our car needed a rest. There's no telling, but I I I 100% believe that there was purpose in it because most people would look at all of that as an inconvenience, and then it would put a different lens at how they looked at the rest of the trip. And and this has actually given me so much more energy. Because even tomorrow, I have there's gonna be a two-hour drive back to return the rental car, two-hour drive back to Cincinnati to get you again and get back in the pool. So, but it's gonna be exciting to me now. Now it's an adventure, and that's one of my highest values.

Keeping Grace Under Pressure

Jana Shelfer 10:08

I also want to just give kudos to you because, from a relationship standpoint, how many times have you been in any circumstance in your own life? Just if you're listening to this, think about it, where something like this happens and then your spouse gets in a funk. Do you know what I'm saying? And then you feel like you're walking on eggshells and nobody wants to say anything in the car. You have handled this with ease, grace, humility, and humor.

Jason Shelfer 10:39

Well, and so I want to just pinpoint that for a minute because I know that you know there have been times in the past where that's not been the case.

Jana Shelfer 10:50

And that's why I pointed it out.

Jason Shelfer 10:53

And this is because when you adopt the the mindset of Living Lucky®, it changes everything. And when you understand what Living Lucky® is from like when you embody it, it changes everything about life.

Jana Shelfer 11:11

Wayne Dyer says when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

Jason Shelfer 11:16

And it's so true, and it hits me so differently and so much more deeply every single day.

Jana Shelfer 11:21

I also think there's more to that quote, and I was I it actually came up for me this morning in my meditation. When you change the way you feel about things, the the things you feel feel differently. Yes, yes, it's and I didn't know how to finish that, but that's exactly it. It's like if you start choosing different feelings, then the experience you have evolves into something better.

Jason Shelfer 11:52

You get to create the life that you want, you get to create the experience that you are looking for in it. Yes, and sometimes we we choose uh the crappy experience.

Jana Shelfer 12:04

And why though? Why it's is it because of the problem?

Jason Shelfer 12:06

I think it's I think oftentimes it's because it's to protect us, it's to protect us, and it's also because we're almost programmed into this experience is crap instead of looking looking for, hey, what is what are the best parts about this? What is this adding to my life? Instead of what did this just take away?

Jana Shelfer 12:30

Yeah, because you know, a lot of people could have experienced what we experienced. I mean, this is gonna add an extra you know, this just wasn't meant to be.

Jason Shelfer 12:39

Well, the other thing is this is gonna add this is just gonna take another $2,500 out of the bank account, you know. So actually more than that, because the room, because it's graduation weekend, the room was $400 and something dollars.

unknown 12:51

Yeah.

Jason Shelfer 12:52

So like that's for me, you know, Mr. Frugal here. I know so it's one of those things where it's like when we think about it, what is it? It's so purposeful. Like this, this is exciting for me because I think all this happened for a reason, and it's just added so much more value to this trip.

Jana Shelfer 13:18

Yeah, and whatever comes of this swim meet, this has provided the prequel to an epic story. And it's no matter what.

Jason Shelfer 13:31

It's such an adventure, and I'm so thankful to be on this adventure with you, with Tater. I'm so glad that the new characters have come in with Dalton and Joe and Kelly and Toyota South. You know, it's we've the right people, the right time, the right place. I'm so glad now that the car broke down at the right place. How many times have we been in the middle of nowhere? Yeah, exactly. And they're we they were like, are we gonna run out of gas? Because I didn't know we were not gonna see a gas station for the next hundred miles. So it's beautiful how things work out.

Jana Shelfer 14:06

I love it. Synchronicities, look for them. What you look for is what you find. Thanks for joining us. Keep Living Lucky®. Bye-bye. If the idea of Living Lucky® appeals to you, visit us at LivingLucky.com.