Kairosclerosis

Today was a day designed to test my ability to follow through.

I have spent a chunk of my prayer time in recent weeks asking that God would help me choose joy. It felt like as hard as I looked for the positive, the negatives kept piling up and weighing me down. Then, today happened. I woke up, got ready, checked my messages, and went out to my car. First, you must know that I have had a plethora of minor and slightly more than minor car issues since I moved. One of those being that my check engine light kept blinking on for no real reason, so when I went home, Dad unhooked my battery and then reconnected it. No more check engine light! Except now my car does this fun thing where sometimes it doesn't want to start unless I get out, pop the hood, and tighten the battery again. Today was one such time. Immediately following, I click my phone's home button to turn it on and plug in some music, and the screen remains obstinately black, no matter how many times I click that little button. My phone has had issues for a while now, so I just sort of grumble and toss it on the seat as I slide a CD into my stereo.

Upon arriving at work, I'm a full 25 minutes early (due to my obsessive desire to avoid rush hour traffic) and since my phone is unresponsive, I sit staring out my window waiting for someone else to arrive so I don't set off the burglar alarm. Again. When I'm finally in the building, I spend forty five minutes frantically trying to find out how to fix my phone, because I need to walk to a meeting and I really don't want to wander the city without it- which is a little dramatic, but at the time, it felt dire. I gave up, plugged my phone into my laptop in the vain hope that it would have rebooted itself by the time I got back from my meeting. I take my Googled directions and start walking.

45 very sweaty minutes later, I have not found the coffee shop that my boss said was only a block away, and my Google directions said was a twenty minute walk from my office. Of course, the difference between those two measurements really should have been my first clue. By the time I'd missed half the meeting I gave up and walked back, definitely regretting my cardigan. I e-mailed my boss from my cube when I returned (where my phone is still dark), and planned to explain everything at our one on one meeting at noon. I spend the morning catching up on post-vacation work and prepping for our meeting. Noon passes, and he hasn't returned from his meeting. Not too concerned, his schedule is packed. By 12:30 I decide to eat my lunch while I wait, which of course is the moment he comes rushing back in. He mentions a meeting he has at one, so I figure ours won't last more than 20 minutes or a half hour, so I leave my lunch at my desk and follow him to his office. That twenty minute meeting becomes an hour and forty five minutes.

But on my long and frustrating walk this morning, I made a choice. This was in fact, a crummy day. There were lots of reasons to be royally ticked off at the world. But being angry with the crummy day was only going to make me miserable. And as Brenda always says "happiness is a choice." So I chose. I chose to see the good in this no good day. I made a list, as I went about this weird, long day, of all the good things about my sucky situation.

1. I got lots of exercise!
2. I got to explore a part of Columbus I hadn't seen before - a cute section of what I'm guessing is Italian Village, with nice houses and lots of trees. It really was rather lovely.
3. Once I adjusted to not being able to check my phone every half hour, I was more productive. I got loads done this morning!
4. Yes, my car is being difficult, but the process to get it going is simple and I can do it myself. So much easier than when the battery just died every other day this past winter.
5. My lunch tasted simply delicious, since I was famished by the time I got to it.
6. I missed my morning cup of coffee because I was stressed about my phone, which is one less caffeine-packed cup, which is better for me!
7. Because I sweat so much this morning, I drank a ton of water all day.
8. My boss was super understanding about my missing the morning meeting. Not everyone is so blessed!
9. My meeting was long, but it gave me lots to do over the next few days.
10. I'm thankful that I live in a time where just because my main form of communication is down, doesn't mean I'm cut off. I can still send Facebook messages and e-mail, and while I am annoyed, my life really can go one mostly as normal until my phone decides to work.

There's my list. To be honest? It made a difference. When someone in the office how my day was going, I automatically said "good!" and when I stopped to think it through, yeah, I really was doing well. That's really all I have to share today, but I hope it proves that even if choosing joy doesn't solve everything? It really can put a really good spin on a really rough day.



kairosclerosis
n. the moment when you realize you're happy.