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We are VERY GOOD at Overlooking our Choices
- Derek Arsenault (CSEP-CPT, PN1)
- Oct 22
- 5 min read
I'm writing this post on a Tuesdy morning after TWO frustrating mornings in a row.
For me, the morning is my favourite time of day;
I love to start my mornings slow and not rushed.
After my shower, I grab a glass of water and do my OMM (One Minute Meditation).
I do my daily chess puzzle and play a game or two.
I read my book (usually "work related" books in the morning) and enjoy a coffee (on the porch depending on the weather).
That's a great way to start ANY day! However, when that gets uprooted I quickly get frustrated. It takes away something that makes me feel good and I'm NOT a fan of that at all! The past two days I've experienced a frustration which set a negative tone on the days right from the start, and yet here on day two I'm coming at it from a different point of view - which has helped. By no means has it totally taken away the frustration of course, but certainly has toned it down.
The past two mornings of, "rocky starts" we'll call it, is due to TWO reasons;
1) Technology 2) My choices
Allow me to explain... 😁
"I CHOOSE technology"
This was what I kept reminding myself of this morning as I could feel the frustration building, while my morning routine began to falter. This was caused by a second day in a row having my Kobo be... well... an asshole!
I LOVE my Kobo. This goes back to 2017-2018ish when a client was getting a new one and we began talking all things ereaders, as I was curious but unsure about them. I love physical books. Still do. Long story short, he gave me his older Kobo and I was immediately hooked! I bought my current Kobo two years ago to upgrade it.
But the past couple days I feel like upgrading it on the end of a hammer 🤪
I'm currently (finally) reading Dr Peter Attia's book "Outlive" and LOVING it! One thing I love about Kobo ereaders, is the ability to highlight things and take notes. It saves it to your annotations and it syncs across your Kobo account. Very handy, especially when it comes to work related stuff that I may want/need to use at various times in various places. When I read a physical book, I usually write my notes in a Google Docs file or my Google Keep, so I can reference them from anywhere as well. However, it's a bit more cumbersome flipping from book to tablet/phone to write a note, then go back. Which is why the Kobo is so handy... When it works smoothly that is.
The last two days, (on chapter 13 of all chapters 😳 - says the superstitious coach) my Kobo has been an asshole (oh sorry, already said that!). Without ranting too much, it's been freezing, restarting (Kobo's are not designed to start quickly - therefore time is taken just waiting for it to restart) and then freezing again a page or two later. Most likely I will have to delete the book and upload it again.
The maddening part of this is (as I mentioned) I love my mornings. Add to that, I'm really loving the book. So when technology decides "Nope! Not today!" it is very frustrating. There are many great positives to ereaders in my opinion, but that's not what this post is about. It's a post to remind us that sometimes OUR OWN CHOICES can add stress to our days; when we CAN CHOOSE another option. We have the CHOICE to change it . We CAN control it. The question is; How often DO WE?
My Choice CAN be different
In reminding myself of this today, it HONESTLY helped. It didn't "magically" wipe out my frustrations so that I was dancing happily around the house. But it really did help me remind myself that I AM IN CONTROL of my CHOICES in this case. Which also then lent to reminding myself that this is TEMPORARY (and therefore, not the end of the world).
I began to search for known issues with the Kobo Clara and this is NOT uncommon, nor is it the end of all things (not to be dramatic by any means). The Kobo Clara is actually one of the better rated Kobo's for performance. There are a few steps (other than resetting - which clearly hasn't worked), including deleting the book and uploading it again. I just need to ensure my highlights are synced so I don't lose them. Just looking in to this made me rationalize this differently so that my frustrations mellowed (slightly). When I take this option to fix the obvious glitch that's happening, if something happened that my annotations didn't sync... I own the book! I can skim through chapters to find info I want whenever I want. The world will continue to turn. Everyone reading this will continue to think "Coach D is a weirdo" (which is fine), and life will continue. Skimming back through things is what I do with my notes anyway, so breathe Coach!
Once again, I HAVE CHOICES; Either I can continue to fight with this piece of technology and let this frustration be how I (may) start my mornings OR I can take another step to try and remedy the problem, so I can get back to enjoying my book with my morning coffee. It's a CHOICE. I even have ANOTHER choice if I want - Buy the physical book and never worry about "glitches". The understanding and taking the time to think about the fact that I have CHOICES creates a sense of freedom in a way. It's a little breath of fresh air in a way.
We have CHOICES WAY MORE than we let on
In the context of deep health, so much comes down to CHOICES.
In this case, my mental and emotional health IS being impacted to start my days, but I have a CHOICE to create positive change...
If you're in pain / discomfort every day, you HAVE THE CHOICE to take action to change that
If you're unhappy with people you're interacting with you HAVE THE CHOICE to NOT interact with those people (or to change HOW you interact with those people)
If you're not happy with how you feel inside and out, you HAVE THE CHOICE to take action to change that
If you're feeling "bogged down" every day and low on energy, you HAVE THE CHOICE to slow down and create opportunities to NOT feel bogged down
... the list is endless of CHOICES we have.
The unhealthy behaviour takes hold when we KEEP GOING BACK to the choices that are making us feel how we don't want to feel. When we ignore the outcome and just keep putting ourselves in the same situation over and over (doing the same thing but expecting/wishing for different results) that's when the negative impact on our deep health arises.
TAKE CONTROL of what YOU CAN control, and make a CHOICE for YOURSELF.
OR
Change nothing.
Either way - YOU choose for YOU.
UPDATE:
After writing this post Tuesday, that evening I took the step I mentioned which was to delete the book and then re-download it again to my Kobo. This morning I enjoyed my morning routine totally smoothly and devoured a couple chapters in my book with no issues.
I could CHOOSE to keep doing the same thing over and over, while basically INVITING stress to kick off my mornings OR I could CHOOSE to try something different to make a positive change.
I'm glad I took option B. 🙂
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