I Smashed My Computer Screen

2/18/2024

Have you ever experienced one of those weeks where everything seems to go wrong? Well, that was exactly my situation last week. I was working under strict deadlines to finish several projects when, unexpectedly, something happened on Tuesday evening. To be honest, I don't think I could replicate the same circumstances even if my life depended on it.

Earlier in the day, I was attending many Zoom calls, so I decided to use my desk on wheels because it allows for adjustable heights. I had placed my computer and a cup of tea on the desk. Suddenly, I accidentally hit the desk chair at just the right angle, causing the chair to hit the desk on wheels. As a result, the desk went flying, hitting an overstuffed chair, and then the cup of hot tea and the laptop both crashed onto the hardwood floor. For some reason, the mug didn't break, so I cleaned up the spilled water, and then I cringed as I picked up the laptop. The laptop screen had been severely cracked. And my immediate thought...

F*********k!!! I just smashed my computer screen!

I immediately called the Help Desk, knowing that I would need a new laptop. I then called a colleague and had a meltdown as I had many important documents on the hard drive and wasn't sure if I could get them moved to the Cloud. This laptop is extremely locked down by the organization I work for (I can't print, connect to Starbucks WIFI, or log into Gmail or Facebook), so an external flash drive will not work. My colleague told me to have a glass of wine and relax for the evening, and he would see if we could find a short-term solution in the AM.

The next morning, my colleague called me with an idea. Can you use an HDMI cable and connect the laptop to a TV monitor? Surprisingly, that was one functionality my laptop would allow me to do. So, I started using my Smart TV as a computer monitor. You may ask why I don't have a computer monitor (that is another long story, but in summary, the monitor the company sent me has no hookup for an HDMI cable and requires me to download and install specific software, which the security on my computer doesn't allow, so the monitor is hanging out in a closet collecting dust).

So, what does this bad week have to do with anything? It reminded me how...

I stopped starting my day with calmness and clarity and instead shifted to starting each day like a bull in a China shop.

I had thrown out my "internal balancing routine" consisting of 20 minutes of yoga, 5 minutes of journaling, and my 5-minute morning CO-Create With My Heart Meditation and replaced it with an "external distraction routine" consisting of checking business and personal email, browsing through Facebook, and searching news headlines. As a result, my morning calm and focused energy shifted to chaos, frustration, and worry.

So, after that harsh lesson, I'm back into my "internal balancing routine" and I was able to move all of my documents to the Cloud. I'm also making sure I do my Co-Create With My Heart Meditation daily (Its only 5 minutes), to ensure that I stay calm and focused on what I want to achieve vs. being distracted by the never-ending external distractions swirling around these days.

What routines do you do in the morning or throughout the day to find calm and focus?

Email me or DM me, I would love to know.