When Everything's Broken

The one ending the week on a high note.

A little over a month ago, we moved into our new house.

So far, we’ve written a laundry list of things that are going *wrong.*

Termites.

A couple of leaks.

An electrical problem (resulting in no way to use a clothes dryer yet 🫠).

A car transmission that’s toast.

Etc., etc.

Nothing really awful, but a lot of things that are annoying and take time (and money…) to fix. A classic case, I suppose, of Murphy’s Law. Everything breaks at once.

I had a moment earlier this week where I let myself slide into a bad mood, succumb to the feeling that everything was kinda, sorta falling apart. Everything felt overwhelming and hard, and I was over dealing with any of it anymore. Like fine, let the termites take over! Whatever they want!

Was I being dramatic? Sure, maybe. But, sometimes life DOES feel hard. Sometimes things do feel exhausting or overwhelming. Sometimes it does seem like the universe is throwing stuff at you a la a pitching machine set at super speed (even if it’s a bunch of tiny, irritating things and not giant, horrible things). The reality of it is, though, that sometimes it takes a beat to settle in somewhere. Sometimes things are really hard before they get better.

But they do get better. Eventually!

Patience is a virtue, and, unfortunately, it’s not a virtue I personally have. (Hopefully you’re doing better than me on that front.) It’s something I’m always working on, but often my inner timeline is a lot faster than the universe’s. Like, most of the time. I want everything to be perfect and settled ASAP.

So at some point this week, in my mini funk, I decided I was also over complaining and being annoyed. I don’t have a magic wand, and there’s not much I can do to speed up the process of fixing the things that still feel (or literally are) broken. And you know, it’s sort of freeing to just say, “OK, it is what it is. It will be what it’ll be.”

While I was walking my dog Wednesday evening, I reminded myself that it’s up to us to change our mood. We get to decide if we’re having a good day — regardless of what’s happening all around us. At literally any point in your day, you can brush yourself off and call a re-do — start fresh, with your mood and your outlook — even if it’s already 4pm. 9pm even. Why not? We get to determine how we feel, and how we respond to the external challenges being thrown at us at any given moment. We have that power, it’s just that sometimes we forget or lose sight of what else is out there. Blue skies and sunshine and family and belly laughs and local bagel shops. There’s good stuff out there, always, and we can decide how big our aperture is, or what we pay attention to… tune the good in, tune the junk out.

And know that things do get better, eventually. (Hopefully not for the termites, though.)

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Have a fabulous weekend, friends! My dad’s in town visiting, and I plan to spend as much time outdoors this weekend as possible (hopefully trying some new coffee shops!). If you’re looking for something good to watch, you must (MUST) watch “The Night Agent” on Netflix. I have not been this obsessed with a show in a while. If you love political dramas, you will love this.

Thanks for reading,

Joelle

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