We Must Learn to Sail in High Winds....

One of my favorite quotes is from Aristotle Onassis: 

"We must free ourselves of the hope that the sea will ever rest. We must learn to sail in high winds."

I think of this often when I'm trying to get something done and things just aren't going well. Like how most of my days go, which is why I have my tagline, and why I so frequently question if I really exist, or if I'm just actually a real life Truman Show...

My life has gotten exceptionally out of control yet again (my chronic case of FOMO insists that I say yes to all the things....) so I'm in a place where I have so much I want to get done in a day, that there is no room for anything to go wrong.

So of course things do go wrong and I end up feeling like I will surely perish at the hands of my own To Do list.

Like Sunday, for instance:

-I head to church and have already made a list of errands for myself that are located around church because if I don't multi-task MY WORLD WILL END.

-I leave church and head to my first stop: buying new running shoes.

-skip to two stops later: returning an item at Target. Except I get distracted (as I always do) by the clothing racks (because: clothes.) and I end up finding things I want to try on (because I need harem pants). So I walk to the back of the store, enter the dressing room, glance at my reflection in the mirror and:

realize one of my pant legs is inexplicably rolled up.

I must've done that while trying on running shoes two stores back and I'm so focused on my To Do list that I didn't even realize it.

Yes. Two stores. As in, I've not only walked all around Target looking like an old-school gang member, but I also walked all around Staples that way. Because stop number two was to have computer nerds help me find the printer toner I needed. So I walked all over an office supply store with one pant leg to the ground and the other rolled up like that half of my body had just waded through a river.

Sigh.

I will say though, that my Target experience was at least salvaged by the fact that after I emerged from the dressing room, I walked past a lady who was scolding herself - out loud - to "focus!" because she too had succumbed to the siren song of the clothing racks. The struggle is real. 

-I head home (getting gas on the way because: multi-tasking) and I proceed to dealing with the next task: ordering a new phone.

And here's where the wind in my day picks up. And also where my technology anxiety gets 47% more intense.

I hate online stuff. I mean, yes, it's convenient - WHEN IT WORKS - but every time I go to log into things, I don't have the right password, or I'm using the wrong browser, or the security on my computer won't let me through, or the screen freezes, or aliens abduct me and when I come back my information needs to be re-entered...

It's seriously one thing after another. These days I nearly have a panic attack just hearing the words "you'll need to log in...."

So long story short (and I do mean long story - I end up working on this for over 2 hours and may or may not have been in tears at one point) I have multiple issues ordering my iPhone, then ordering the accessories, then trading my other iPhone in, then talking to multiple customer service people online, then talking to another one over the phone, then curling into the fetal, then cursing the day computers were born.... and I finally get it ordered.

And the ONLY reason I'm even doing this is because my current phone is freaking out, and apps aren't working right, and the screen freezes, and the battery sucks, etc. etc. More reasons to hate technology...More wind in my day....

But whatever, the phone ordering is done and I'm now trying desperately to move on to my next 14 tasks, which include doing some work for my regular job, doing some work for my Navy job, doing some different work for my company, training for the Army 10  Miler, logging my miles for charity in an app on my phone, doing laundry, giving my cat a "sani-clip" for reasons I will let you Google "sani-clip" to understand.....

Did I mention this is Sunday? As in The Day of Rest? High winds indeed...

I go for my run --

and my running app won't work.

I need to scream now.

I finally give up and finish my run without the app (because: see! still sailing, Aristotle...) I go home, shower, and sit down at my computer. And I have this little security token thingy that I have to use every time I log into one of my email systems. So I use it, log in, and am starting to get work done, but then -because technology hates me - I realize I can't do something because I'm using an Internet browser that this particular system doesn't agree with. *angry words!!* So I open a new browser, go to re-type my security token thingy and realize:

I don't have it anymore, because about 10 minutes ago, I threw it across the room as a diversion for my cat who had perched herself on my desk,clawing at my hands and changing my Touch screen with the presence of her tail. I couldn't find anything for her to play with so in a desperate attempt, I threw the first little thing I could find.

And she apparently batted that thing into oblivion because I didn't see it anywhere. She somehow sensed that my work life depended on it, so she made sure to thoroughly hide it and I was so focused on my To Do list that I didn't even notice. *Hurricane force winds*

So now it's 10 p.m. and I'm on my hands and knees, crawling around my living room as my To Do list mocks me from the corner. I finally find the token thingy  -in a completely different room - and I'm able to finish the day out in my own personal funnel cloud of issues.

Oh, Onassis. I appreciate that you remind us that we all have to keep sailing, but surely even you would agree that some days maybe it's better to just run for the tornado shelter...