I’ve been trying to push forward. In the last 48 hours I have:
- Created a Pinterest and added my first pin
- Created a YouTube channel and posted my first video
- Begun prepping videos I shot earlier this week for publication
- Filmed a new video, and planned out several more
- Begun planning out weeks worth of content
I’ve accomplished all of this while maintaining my daily task list, with no slippage. Hell, I’ve even ramped up my workouts, while splitting my yoga routine in half, to make it easier to maintain my routines.
A Little Snag
Then I ran into a little snag. Technology.
Last night I was pulling videos off my phone, in preparation for posting them to YouTube and… BOOM. Alluva sudden, my computer stopped importing iPhone videos.
I went to the internets to search. Update your iTunes, it said.
So I did, and 2 videos managed to squeak through before…BOOM. No more videos would import.
I rebooted everything. iTunes tells me I need to update my iOS.
Really?
My PHONE didn’t tell me I needed to update iOS.
Long song and dance, after a bunch of aggravation, piled on courtesy Apple, Windows, the internet, the iPhone itself, blah, blah, blah, I am finally able to get the videos off my phone and onto the computer.
At the cost of almost two hours of my life. Two hours of aggravation and bad mood, culminating with getting snappish with my 8 y/o. Fortunately, I knew it was coming, the explosion, and I got myself under control before I lost it.
Losing My Temper
Losing my temper is a major trigger for my depressions. I have an absolutely foul temper, and I’ve spent a lifetime learning to keep it under control. Sometimes little bits leak out, but if the last eight months have taught me anything, they’ve taught me that the stress of holding it in is far less than the depression spiral from letting it out.
So I didn’t, and I yanked myself back under control, and apologized to the little goof.
Funny thing, one of the greatest additions to my depression recovery toolbox, one of my most powerful tools, has been the apology. When you screw up, apologize. Making amends for your wrongdoing will do much to help you avoid, or get out of depression’s downward spiral.
At least it works for me.
Anyway, these “labour saving” devices, these “conveniences” of modern life, they aren’t really labour saving or convenient. What they are is stressors.
Technology and the modern “conveniences” surround us; we’re constantly plugged in, never more than 4 millimetres away from our phones, tablets, computers, TVs. The cacophony of life never seems to abate and it’s stressing us out.
At least it’s stressing me out.
So unplug. Turn off the TV, the computer, especially your phone. Take back your life from the “conveniences.” Maybe your life gets a little less convenient, but it will for sure get better.
