Day 67

Day 67: Real Time
Day 11: 21 Day Complaint Free Journey


The bagel helped yesterday morning. I’m sure it sped me through the preparations for the garage sale, its carb-filled comfort coursing through my body. And the calories were worked off by the end of the day, sweat dripping from my brow and brightly colored pricing dots stuck to my shoes.

After hitting the bagel shop, though, I first arrived at my meeting for work. One of my co-workers had read my column and mentioned that she had experienced a car repair situation much like the one I faced two days ago. My body kicked into high alert. I could feel it. I wanted to jump on the “mechanic bashing” train as it whistled through the room. My ticket was punched and I was anxious to leave the station.

And then I jerked myself off the boarding platform. Just in time.

I knew what would happen if I opened my mouth, even one tiny little bit. I knew I wouldn’t be able to control the tirade that would fuel the train, probably for a good chunk of time before we sat down to work.

So, I smiled and nodded. And the train left quietly without either of us on board.

There’s a huge lesson here for all of us who hope to live with a tad more grace and dignity every day. I controlled that situation through my awareness of it. All of us at the table might have spent some time sharing our individual auto repair debacles, but the result would not have added anything positive or worthy to the rest of our day. Our attitudes would have been tilted toward the negative, and none of that would have helped do our jobs better. In fact, it would have been the contrary.

Day 11 (almost) dawns!