let things go
In my last post, I talked about flexibility and how I believe everyone should define her own idea of perfection. It’s something I believe for a multitude of reasons, many of which are personal that I hope to write about one day - perhaps in a one-woman show. I originally said this would be a post on pivoting, and there are elements of pivoting in this post, but I need to write about something else first. I have to write about what happened yesterday morning. All this week, my apartment is undergoing a shower renovation that began yesterday. It actually was supposed to happen a month ago, but here we are.
So last week, the contractor in charge of the shower replacement reached out to me to confirm that they would begin work at 8 AM Tuesday morning. I confirmed with him, ready and excited for a new shower. Tuesday morning rolls around and I receive a text at 7 AM letting me know the ETA is a little delayed but the workers should be expected at 8:30. I responded that it was no problem and then asked if I needed to be present for the renovation to take place. I received a response telling me that I was not needed for the repairs, so I packed up my stuff and headed out to enjoy the day I’d planned working away from my home office.
8:25 I receive a text that the workers are at my front door. I respond that I am not home as I was told that I was not needed home for the workers to do their job. I then received a response that I actually was needed home to let them in or else they would rekey the lock sets (I had no idea what this meant - which is important for later), so I responded immediately that I would be home in 15 minutes in order to let the workers inside.
I arrive at my front door at 8:40 with no workers in sight. I unlock my front door and proceed inside while simultaneously calling the contractor. I am immediately taken aback to see two men in my kitchen who have drilled through the lock on my back door, gaining entry. I feel relief when I realize it’s the two workers but am (hopefully understandably) very upset. I try to communicate with them, but there’s a language barrier. Confused, I call the contractor and explain the situation, recalling how I’d asked him if I’d be needed and he said no, how he then later said I’d need to let them in, how I told him I’d come back and let them in, and how I was confused as to how all this had happened since I didn’t want to have to undergo all new keys to my apartment. His response was that he didn’t get my text (even though I’d responded right away) and that I was “very confused.” His exact words. It was truly an exercise in patience and communication.
He apologized for the miscommunication, and I told him I realized that there must be some information I’m missing because I did not know what it meant to rekey a lockset. He asked if I wanted the workers to leave, but I told him no because I wanted this shower to be fixed (a month ago in all honesty, but I didn’t want to be rude). He then explained to me that the lock situation would not add any extra work to the process, eliminating a concern I had.
So what’s the point of this whole story? Trust is lost by miscommunication and broken expectations. I was incredibly upset when I stumbled upon two strange men in my apartment; however, trust can be reestablished with understanding, open communication, clarification, and the willingness to let things go.
If I hadn’t been able to recognize why I was feeling the emotions I had, to express why I was frustrated to the contractor on the phone, and to let go of the negative feelings in order to accomplish the shared goal, I would be another day delayed in receiving a new shower and also someone who just wrote a post on flexibility who was not being very flexible.
Life is a constant learning process full of many moving parts. Human beings tend to overcomplicate a lot of things, myself included sometimes, but by staying flexible and making a situation as simple as possible, both parties involved were able to achieve their shared goal. Did I still accomplish everything I needed to do yesterday? Yes, I did, although I did have to rearrange a lot of my schedule to do it. But what have I said before? If you have a dream and something about which you are passionate, you’ll make it a priority and find the time for it.
And you know what else? By only focusing on the things that I could control (internal) and allowing myself some time to healthily decompress from the stress of the morning’s events (external), I got to swing in my hammock with my puppy while outlining this blog post. I starved my ego, fed my soul, and ended the day in peace…. until the workers returned again at 8 AM for day 2. C’est la vie.
And hey, I promise I will get to a post on pivoting sometime soon, but I'm someone who thinks it's incredibly important to build a strong foundation, so I pivoted in order to write a better post on pivoting! I’ll see you for my video blog post on Friday! And, as always, if you have any pressing questions or if you want to discuss something further with me, feel free to subscribe below or reach out to me on the “contact” page. I’m so grateful that I’ve been getting a lot of really challenging questions and even better feedback from a community all over the world. I couldn’t do this without you! I’m here for you, and I love hearing from you, too! You’re the best, and you have everything you need inside of you! Please believe it!