Let me tell you about the day my family got Javier, my Honda Accord. It was May 7th, 2011. The five of us hopped into my mom’s old car and drove down to Medford for a basketball tournament that my older brother, JD, was playing in. Coincidentally, this also was the weekend that my mom was going to upgrade her vehicle so she could commute to work (at the time, she was driving long distances to meet up with partners through Quicken Loans at banks across the Pacific Northwest). I remember sitting in the dealership waiting room, watching a movie on an old TV while my sister was playing with her stuffed horse, Hershey. After what felt like forever, my parents walked out of the salesman’s office and we went outside to see our new, 2011 Honda Accord. My Mom was very particular about keeping the new car clean. She put towels down on the backseats at the beginning so us kids wouldn’t get the car too dirty at first. She was livid when my Dad took me and my brother to get a new cattle dog in Javier just a month after we got it. She always did everything in her power to make sure I did not eat in the car at all (I was a messy eater). And she would always irritate me when she would take the super loud shop vacuum to clean the car and the noise could be heard all around the house. But for the next thirteen years, Javier became the go to vehicle for running quick errands, transporting my Mom up and down I-5 for work, and being the extra car for me and my siblings. Javier was always reliable. We almost never had problems with the car and it was the easiest to get around in. When I moved to Louisville, my Dad and I took Javier so I could have a way to get around the city. Even though the car now has 339,000 miles on it, we had no problems driving from Oregon to Kentucky. And this morning when I took Javier to get a car wash and an oil change, the guy at Valvoline commented at just how well of a condition the car was in. Besides being a quart low on oil, all that was really wrong was the cabin filter being worn out, which I paid to get replaced. But other than that, Javier had a clean bill of health. Sure, the backseats are a bit more worn than they were fourteen years ago, and dash by the glove compartment has some nicks and scratches. But Javier is in very good condition, because my family really prioritized maintaining the car, keeping it clean, and treating it with dignity wherever we drove.

Compare that to my ’97 Ford F-250, which I have named “Gladys.” Gladys is back in Oregon, hanging out as a spare vehicle for my Dad on his ranch adventures. Gladys and I have some history. When I was 15, instead of buying me a truck, my parents decided that I was going to fix up my own vehicle. They bought two broke down ’90s model Ford F-250’s from family friends and we used one broken truck for parts to fix the parts in the other broke down truck. While other people who I went to high school with got new, fresh vehicles, I was stuck fixing the truck for months before I could drive it. And Gladys was in terrible condition. When my Dad got her, she was sitting in a field without all four tires on. The bed was completely dented and unusable, and Gladys hadn’t been driven in several years. She had gone through several owners, eventually being used as a work truck on a farm. At one point, Gladys’ engine caught on fire and had to be replaced. Needless to say, I wasn’t thrilled at the prospect of having to fix up this vehicle. For months, I would work on the interior and strip it down, take the seats and flooring out to get it cleaned and replaced, while my Dad worked on replacing the applicable parts from the other truck to Gladys. But eventually the process of fixing up Gladys grew on me. We got a new set of tires to replace the aging ones. We had to find a third truck bed from a late 80’s model Ford to replace bed of Gladys (the other broken truck had a broken bed), and we eventually took her to my Dad’s friend to get the paint redone. About eight months after starting (and six months after I turned 16), I finally got to drive Gladys. However, that was only the start of my dilemma’s with that truck. She had a bad oil leak that required months in a shop to fix. The slave cylinder went out when I was driving in Salem one day, requiring a Triple A truck to tow her 120 miles back. The alternator went bad when I was home last November I was off road with her on my family’s ranch, and there have been countless other times that truck has needed to be in our shop for one reason or another. Don’t get me wrong, I still love my truck. I will keep Gladys because I love driving that truck and fixing it up. But she has so many problems, even though I’ve treated her well. And yes, vehicles age. Between two different engines, Gladys has 345,000 miles on her and was driven in way rougher conditions because she wasn’t treated with the dignity and upkeep that she deserved by some (not all!) of the owners who had her before me. Because of that mistreatment, it has cost my family thousands of dollars more than it should have to maintain and fix Gladys, and we are constantly having to assess what is wrong and have to proceed with caution.

Ever since I turned 16 and worked to fix up my truck, I have an appreciation for vehicles and keeping them in good condition. Unlike a lot of people, I don’t really see the point in needing the newest vehicle and I don’t judge anyone differently because they have a new/old vehicle. However, I will judge someone based on how well they’ve been taking care of their vehicle. I have a pet peeve for messy cars and leaving trash and such in them. I just think its gross and disrespectful. That’s why I enjoy checking on my vehicles and spending time to maintain them as well. It’s a fun little hobby that I get to do, not a chore that I have to do, and I feel better when it’s done. And in the end, that enjoyment does save money in the long run by maintaining and checking rather than mistreating.

Gladys has cost my family a lot more money to fix than it should have precisely because she was mistreated and not maintained by previous owners. It’s not because she’s a Ford (the best truck brand of all time, no debate) or because she’s almost three decades old. She wasn’t treated well, not given the care she deserved, and was left sitting in a field to rot when she broke down. Compare that to Javier the Honda. It’s precisely because he was constantly maintained and checked that he’s had no issues for my family for fourteen years. Because there was an effort and care to maintain and upkeep, even when we all got busy, Javier always ran smoothly, never had issues that were unforeseen, and been reliable no matter what.

When it comes to maintenance and upkeep, it isn’t glamorous or fun. It’s just that- maintaining and doing work to prevent issues down the line. Not doing that work builds up. It does matter in the long run. And that extends to more than just vehicles, it’s applicable to our own lives as well. Maintenance is physical, emotional, spiritual, mental, etc. If we don’t actively take notice of when we’re starting to wear down and try to fix what is going on, then we’re running inefficiently. And the choices we make every single day have an effect on us, even if we don’t notice it right away. For me, when I choose to take a day off from the gym, I feel lethargic and lazy. Or when I spend too much time on social media, I get really anxious. The choices we make every day to our bodies affect our health, and it’s important to be aware of that in order to function our best. Javier is a great example of that. The car didn’t stay in good shape on accident. It was through deliberative choices by my parents to keep the car in good shape. They consistently stayed proactive. That discipline made the difference. What I’m learning now, especially in law school, is that being proactive and disciplined with my health is important to staying successful. And not only that, I feel better about myself when I do. This journal is a great example of how I do maintenance on my own life. It’s not to be preachy and tell everyone reading it how much they need to be healthy, but it’s part of my maintenance and upkeep that I do mentally and emotionally to reflect on myself that makes me more well-rounded, and by extension, more efficient in other areas of my life.

If you feel like you’re not running top notch right now, like things feel off and you’re not as efficient as you could be, maybe it’s time for a maintenance check in your own life. Check in with yourself. How are you doing physically, mentally, emotionally? If you feel like you’re not up to speed, start thinking of little changes that can be added into your daily habits, and build from there. Your health is the most important thing – not work, school, or electronics. And your actions every day on how you treat yourself build up, and can put you on a path where you’re running smoothly like Javier or are always out of commission like Gladys.

So take the time. Tighten the bolts, change the filters, and clear out the junk. You don’t have to overhaul everything overnight, just start with something small and meaningful. Because just like a car, the better you take care of yourself, the longer and smoother the ride will be. And your everyday habits will determine if you’re a Healthy Javier or a Groggy Gladys. The choice, like the upkeep, is yours—and it starts with what you do today.