I’ve started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here.
Today’s tip is to catch yourself overreacting and take a breath.
I didn’t remember to breathe recently, but fortunately my wife helped me.
Our sink got clogged up recently. I cooked some breakfast, and afterwards, I threw out a few pieces of old chicken that were in the fridge as I started me cleanup. The sink clogged, and I couldn’t get it to work. I took a break, then ran to the store for a snake, which I tried to use. I ended up taking apart the lower U joint and getting all 20ft down into the pipe, but I still looking at this:
I worked on this for a few hours, doing a little work when I needed a break, but at 5pm, I couldn’t figure anything out. I was frustrated, upset, stressed as I had some deadlines at work, I didn’t get to exercise, and I still didn’t have a working sink for dinner.
My wife reminded me to breathe, to relax, and forget about it. She called a plumber for the next day, told the kids to find leftovers, and took me out for dinner and a drink to relax. It was good to just stop worrying about a minor thing and just move on with life.