Well, I'm glad I didn't have this one yesterday! As soon as I got done blogging, I looked out the living room window and realized something was wrong with my sprinklers. The water was flooding the lawn instead of shutting off after a few minutes and beginning watering the other side of the lawn. I also noticed there was water bubbling up from the ground next to one of the sprinkler heads. I ran outside and switched off the sprinkler at the system - and nothing happened! Then I turned the valve that I thought was supposed to shut off water to the whole house - and nothing happened! Now I was in a total panic, and all I could think of was the hundreds of gallons of water I'd be paying for, to water the sidewalk and street. I called the water department who said they couldn't get here for an hour and no, they will not note my account, and I will definitely be billed for all the water that continues to come out.
Now imagine if yesterday was the No Complaining day! (Fortunately, it all turned out okay, as it always eventually does. A neighbor had a contractor working there who was kind enough to shut off all water to the house to make it stop. The water company showed up within 5-10 minutes instead of an hour & found the valve to shut everything off to the sprinkler system while returning water to the rest of the house. I had called Tim for advice, and fortunately he was at a rest area for the day and was able to look up and call a landscaping/sprinkler system guy to come figure this out. Turns out he can fix everything, including the back yard that had an underground leak and uneven watering, all for an unexpectedly low price.)
Today is going to be a much easier day to not complain. I have the house to myself. It's a holiday so there's no errands I need to run, no responsibilities, financial or otherwise, that I need to get done today. Instead, I got to work out, clean things I haven't had a chance to do. I got to workout, do my bible reading/study, read, listen to the Minimalists podcast, blog, get some planning done for the rest of the week. But what if Day 4 didn't fall on a day like today?
In the real world, I would complain when someone cuts me off in traffic, or if something caused my well-planned day to get behind or off-track. I would complain if I had to deal with that one person we all have in our lives that does nothing but complain 24/7. I would complain if I had to be out in the heat involuntarily - like when someone messed something up and I have to go fix it. But here's a big question:
What good would that have done?!
It wouldn't have changed anything. It would've brought more negativity into my thoughts. How would I come up with solutions? or remove stress? or learn to bounce back to a relaxed state quickly?
Maybe on a regular basis, when things go wrong, a better way to get through it might be to ask an important question:
Will this matter in 5 years? - if not, let it go. Also, if the answer is no, ask again...
Will this matter in 1 year? - if not, let it go. Again, you may ask...
Will this matter in 6 months? What about in 1 month?
in most things like people cutting you off in line somewhere or in traffic - will it even matter in just 5 minutes from now? No? then LET IT GO.
With that said, I understand there are serious issues that happen in life that affect our lives dramatically. I also know that most people with the worst chronic pain, or are fighting cancer, or the single moms working full time while trying to raise good kids, they tend to be the last ones to complain. Maybe because they're thankful for every day, or have a good handle on what's really important? But most of us tend to complain way too much - and it doesn't need to be that way. It is a choice. It may have to be a learned behavior if you're one who complains on a regular basis, but the truth is, you CAN overcome complaining - and it starts with a single step, a single day.
Try it for yourself.
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