The (Almost) Daily Dose: Takeaways From the Worst Year of My Life, Part IV
Take action rather than stewing in reaction
WHEN THE CAR BREAKS DOWN, DON’T CALL THE SUICIDE HOTLINE, CALL AAA.
I’m joking, but I’m not. This is yet another important truth I discovered during the Year of the D. In times of overwhelm it is best to breathe, step back(even if it’s only in your head) and figure out a way to act instead of react.
Don’t do this
Do this
Assess the situation as if it weren’t happening to. you but to your best friend and you’d like to provide helpful assistance. It’s a re-wiring trick for those of us prone to hysteria or drama or just deep despair because the scales of justice do not seem to be working in our favor.
It’s easy and normal to lose it when something you count on goes wrong.
The internet, your car, a toilet…. We can all pick times when that one thing threw us over the edge and we broke down, ate our body weight in peanut M&Ms or crawled back into bed.
Don’t do this
Do this
But, THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT ALL OF THESE VERY NORMAL SNAFUS HAVE FIXES AND THE MINUTE YOU TAKE ACTION RATHER THAN STEWING IN REACTION, YOU WILL FEEL BETTER. Dial AAA or Louisville Tire & Auto, reboot your router, call Planet Plumbing. There are answers out there and putting yourself to work finding them (it’s amazing how many things one can solve just by Googling your dilemma) is a much healthier use of your energy.
I realize Google can’t find my phone (though thankfully the Find My Phone app works for that) or tell me where my debit card might be, but because I have this calming tool, I realize I can just call CHASE and ask for a new one. Which, no lie, I am about to do.
