Need to take the edge off? Here’s how I avoided drinking yesterday.
I felt so wonderful, happy and filled with joy on Monday, I actually ran down a hill.
And the mood was shattered when my phone fell out of my pocket, onto the asphalt, and, well… shattered.
I can feel my face getting hot as I write this recalling the shock and anger and fear.
Tuesday was a bit less joyous as I worked to get my phone fixed or replaced. You can skip the next few paragraphs if you want. I’m sure you can anticipate where this is going. The experience sucked.
So Tuesday, my saga to get my phone fixed or replaced began at 2pm when I walked into AT&T.
They sent me home to access a website for repairs. (See, my phone didn’t work, so I had to go home to my computer.)
Filing a claim and getting my phone fixed would entail driving an hour to the closest repair place and hoping they could fix it in their promised two hour window before driving back an hour.
Before undertaking that trip, I checked with Apple. Miracle of miracles, I owned AppleCare+. So I brought the phone to the Apple store (next to the aforementioned AT&T store).
After enticing me with the promise to fix it onsite in an hour, I now am stuck with a loaner phone that doesn’t make calls from my house. My phone had to be sent away for repairs. See ya in 10 days. Business days! And it took 90 minutes to get that far.
Then to the grocery store where the line was like the pic above. And driving home in rush hour traffic.
I finally got back at 5:30.
But instead of coming home frazzled, pissed off and needing a drink, I returned with a sense of equanimity and a certain satisfaction with myself for how I handled the situation.
Crazy, right?
These are the five things I remembered to do.
- Set your expectations appropriately.
Dealing with technology that isn’t functioning properly is gonna take a long time. That’s just the way it is.
I wish that the Apple team had simply said, “Oh, I’m so sorry you broke your phone. Here’s a brand new one — and it’s the newest model, too.”
But expecting that? It’s a set up for needing a drink later.
2. Practice patience.
My daughter once asked me if the definition of patience was pretending really hard not to be impatient! And she’s definitely onto something.
I didn’t have a phone to distract me, so I had to find something else.
The way I pretended to not be impatient was to count my exhales up to 10. And then start over at 1. Again, when I reached 10, I started over at one.
Breathing mindfully actually calms down our autonomic nervous system. I chose to not entertain my thoughts of how annoying the experience was.
3. Be kind
The young woman who helped me at the Apple store was flustered and embarrassed by how long the process was taking. She kept apologizing. She was getting red blotches on her neck.
Instead of being an asshole, I assured her that I knew she was doing her best and that I appreciated the care with which she was treating my problem.
4. Be helpful
The even-younger woman sitting at the same table as I was got up and wandered around the store while leaving her purse open and on the table. (I do live in Boulder, CO not NYC, but still…)
I watched her bag.
I didn’t announce it to her, expect her thanks or warn her against doing that ever again, but I saw where I could be helpful and I was.
5. Focus on what you can bring to a situation rather than on not getting your way.
In the car, I listened to the soundtrack from the new West Side Story movie (love that music)! In the line at the grocery store, I bagged my own groceries.
People’s moods are contagious. Simply being accepting of the situation helps the people around you, although they probably don’t realize it.
I practiced tolerance — allowing everything to be exactly as it was without resistance.
And my resistance is usually going on between my ears.
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