Learning to Adapt

What follows is another blog I wrote on my “Me Day” over a week ago, that I was proud to have finished but then forgot to post. Enjoy!

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So I’m sitting here at a booth at Panera, pretending to be important. I have my lap top, so I’m sure people think I’m doing something significant, right?

Well, I am.

See, today is “Me Day.”  Maybe that sounds a little self-centered, but it is the day after my birthday and I took the day off for me. My husband is at home with the kids since they are on spring break, watching basketball, and I’m out and about.

The thing about Me Days, for me at least, is that they are always more “exciting” leading up to them then they are actually are. I’ve been giddily looking forward to this day for two weeks. I’ve been trying to think of all the things I’m going to pack into the eight hours I have. Sadly, when I woke up this morning (which was about an hour later than I planned), and finally got dressed and out of the house (which was about 2 ½ hours later than I had planned), I had no real clue what I was going to do.

I think part of my problem is that I want things to be perfect. I get these ideas in my head and have a hard time letting myself enjoy it when things don’t go exactly right.

The one thing I knew I wanted to do was take my laptop to Panera, grab breakfast and coffee, and write. Uninterrupted by kids, television, internet and my own ADHD, and just write. So as I finally pulled into the Panera parking lot and noticed the “massive” amount of cars in the parking lot – which meant a “massive” amount of people taking up the tables (it was about 10:30), my heart sank and I felt deflated.

The ONE thing I was looking forward to the most was not going to be able to happen because there was no way I was going to find a seat where I could comfortably sit, whip out the lap top, and write. So I decided to go to another location, hoping that it wouldn’t be quite as busy.

And of course it was. But there was a difference in my attitude from just 45 minutes later (I made a stop for some shopping on the way). I added a new word to my list of words for 39.

Adapt.

So my long held plans of sitting at Panera and writing on my lap top might not happen. I had to adapt. It wasn’t going to alter the course of my life…or even my day. It was a planned one hour chunk of time, so why was I going to get so upset and let it affect my entire day?  So I can’t pull out the computer. I have a Kindle – I could read. I had a notebook I could actually PHYSICALLY write out my thoughts! So as I pulled into another busy parking lot, I grabbed my lap top, but I also grabbed my Kindle, my paper, my pen, tucked it all into my computer bag, and decided I was going to just go in and ADAPT my plans to fit the situation.

Turns out, my timing was perfect. I arrived right before the lunch crowd, found an empty booth, and here I am. Writing ON MY LAP TOP (I worried for nothing), looking all important, and feeling a ting of guilt for taking up a booth just to write. But not enough to stop me from writing two short blogs and enjoying my Me Day!

Here’s to what I am determined to make an amazing 39^th year