One evening in early October I had the unfortunate experience of getting accidentally locked out of my house. Up to that point in the day everything was going great. I was able to get off work early (which hardly ever happens), and I had decided to take my pug for a walk before it got dark. I double checked to make sure I had my keys and off we went.
It wasn’t until I got back to the house that I realized I didn’t have my house key! Thankfully I had my phone & was able to call a friend for help (my husband was unreachable for a few hours). I was furious with myself. I had so many plans for my “early evening home from work”. I wanted to watch Glee! But here I sat on my front step waiting for a ride to a friends house. I kept thinking, “What can you learn from this?”, and this is what I came up with:
Do things when you say you’re going to do them. The reason I didn’t have my house key is because I had taken it off my key chain weeks before and hadn’t put it back on yet. My house key was sitting in my purse. How often do we say, “Oh, I’ll do that later”, but “later” never comes?! However, do you notice the sense of accomplishment & pride you feel when you’re able to complete tasks and check off items on your to-do list?
Get to know your neighbors. Sure, I know them well enough to stand out in the driveway and talk and wave when we drive past each other in the street. However, I don’t know my neighbors well enough to walk over to their house and ask to come in and stay for a few hours. How sad! We were built to be in relationships, whether those relationships are romantic ones, friendships, or communities. Slowly we’re pulling away from this. This experience opened my eyes to see that it is having an effect on me personally. If you have a neighborhood where you can walk over to your neighbors and say, “Can I stay a while?”, then great! If you cannot, what changes can you start making?
Keep your cell phone charged. I was so thankful I had mine with me that night. You just never know when you’re going to need it.
Be flexible. You can have all sorts of plans of how you want your day/evening/event/life to go, but that doesn’t mean it‘ll go that way! There’s a 12-step saying that says, “Life is what happens when you’re busy making plans”. You have to re-group and re-focus and keep on going. Otherwise you can get depressed, bitter, and stuck on trying to change things that you don’t have control over.
Don’t beat yourself up. I was angry with myself for forgetting to put my key on my key chain, but I have to allow myself to make mistakes. I’m human. We all make mistakes and we’re all human. We have to allow ourselves some grace and patience from time to time….sometimes daily! If we cannot accept the fact that we make mistakes, then we cannot accept the fact that others are going to make mistakes either.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. I didn’t want to burden anyone with picking me up, but I also couldn’t sit out in the cold for 3 hours either. It’s hard to ask for help if you believe you can “do it all” or “shouldn’t need help”. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness, it’s actually a sign of strength. Wise people know their limitations and know when to seek help and ask for assistance. Wise people know when they’re getting to their “critical burn-out limit” and enlist the help of other people.
Hopefully there was something here on this list that you as the reader needed to hear. Whether it was the reminder to keep your cell phone charged, a nice kick in the rear to quit procrastinating on something, or motivation to ask for help more often. Thanks for reading!
