Sweating and its relation to small stuff.

I have learned not to get the little things get you down, even when there is a huge pile of them waiting out side your bedroom door when you wake up in the morning. Just as you build a house one brick at a time, deal with each and every little thing as one light brick and do not get discouraged.

I used to get really perplexed when I would have a day where it seamed like nothing would go right, flat tires, equipment problems, computers crashing, fights with family, with co-workers. I would get so worked up to the point of wanting just to leave everything and just go back in the house and sit there, far away from the problems out side, and hope they would just go away. It didn't take me long to realize that they don't go away, they sit and wait for you to come and solve them, just as I would wait for them to solve them selves. So eventually I got to thinking to my self, why am i getting worked up? What is that accomplishing? I looked back at my child hood and at my grand father. By the time I came to know him he was an old man, a calm man, I very rarely saw him get perplexed about anything, and that's not to say that he didn't have problems to get perplexed about. He would have flat tires and equipment problems just like the rest of us, but he would always calmly asses and fix the problem with no apparent angst or anger. It didn't pay for him to get angry, it doesn't pay for anyone to get angry.

So today I woke up and went out to my garage and got in my car and drove it out and was on my way to go our annual choir retreat two and a half hours into MN. I made it half way down the driveway and I felt my steering wheel pull towards the passenger side and I heard a grumbling noise. I knew right away it was a flat tire. So I rolled down the windows and, while listening to Kurt Elling, I put my spare tire on and decided to go to Fargo Tire and get a new tire put on (118$). While I'm there and the tire is being put on i get a call from my family (who has been at a horse show in Valley City ND since Wednesday) telling me that one of our oldest horses is sick and needs help. Upon leaving the tire store I tell my friend Tony that I can no longer give him a ride to retreat and I then change course and head home. As i get about half way (about 30 min interstate driving) I get a call that the horse is recovering and is going to be ok (she was suffering from a mild Colic, which at the age of 35 it almost always kills them). I then turn round and drive back to Fargo.

Not the worst day I have ever had but, I tried my very best to remain clam and take every thing in stride, because what else am I gonna do. It is by far more productive to deal and adapt to situations quickly and efficiently rather than bring any hint of frustration or other emotions into it. You do what you got to do to get it done.