Tangled Thoughts

I woke up this morning, 5 minutes before my alarm.  Equally annoying and nice – to have a few minutes to wake up, yet also wishing I could have slept…just that much longer.  I remembered it was St. Patrick’s day, and chose to wear green – instead of blue.  Not that anyone would care.  But I would.  I even matched my socks to my shirt.  Yes.  Today was going to be a stellar day.  An awesome day.  I had it all planned out.

And then I got to the shop – only to realize I forgot Yoshi’s food.  And it was raining.  But a walk home was in order – because dog needs her food!  And still…the day was going to go just as planned.  I would meet my deadlines, call all the customers, and solve the entire worlds problems – in the few short hours I had today.

Everything was going as planned.  As I had planned.  And then it happened.

The wrong part was ordered.

The wrong item showed up in the mail.

Another wrong part.

Ticket prices nearly doubled.

I couldn’t find the right words I needed.

Our renters were being evicted.  Again.  For lack of payment.  AGAIN.

My day was spiraling out of control.  Everything that could go wrong, would go wrong, and was going wrong.  “Why cant one GOOD thing happen!” I yelled to no one in particular.  I grumbled my way through estimates, phone calls, and other various things.  All while wondering when.  When would something good finally happen today.  Why couldn’t my day go as I had planned?

Finally, after getting fed up with myself – I took Yoshi for a walk.  It rained.  Then hailed.  Then snowed.  Because of course.  Why not!  Why wouldn’t it!

As I ran, I started to think over all the things that had happened today.  All the minor inconvenient, silly, stupid things that had ruined my day.  My plans.  My way.  My ideas.  Me. Me. Me.  I ran a bit further.  Yea.  The parts were wrong.  So?  So what!  A minor, mere inconvenience in my day.  Nothing more, nothing less.  A problem that could be solved in less than ten minutes.

So what if the wrong things showed up?  So what if prices doubled today?  They will go down tomorrow – I just have to wait.  Waiting – is never in my plans.  But its something I need to learn to do more of.  Waiting, patiently.

But what about the good things?  It was then I realized my mistake.  Plenty of good things had happened.  Plenty of good things WERE happening.  Atleast we have customers, willing to pay for parts.  Atleast the customers are usually understanding about wrong parts.  Atleast we have time to wait for tickets to drop in price.  Atleast.  ATLEAST!  At most – we have so much more.  So much more.

In the light of everything – these silly little things really don’t mean anything.  Sure, they ruined my day.  But not even that.  These things didn’t ruin my day.  I.  Ruined my day.  My attitude.  Ruined my day.  Or, atleast, they were ruining my day.

By the time I got back from my run, I had a new perspective.  A better attitude.  So what if a few things went wrong today.  Plenty of things were good today – there is always the good, even if I choose not to look at it.  And why, would anyone, myself included – choose to focus on the negative, when there are plenty of great and awesome things happening all around?

Yoshi is almost always happy – even despite the snow.