At the end of the pandemic, those who hoarded will be surrounded by empty toilet paper rolls, while those who did the best they could with what they have will be surrounded by communities who love and admire them, not just for what they did, but more so for being the people they are.
Betty told me that this morning over tea, and it seems like some good advice to pass along to all of those people who are struggling to get by this week. For a teapot, Betty is really, really wise.
This morning I could feel myself getting more than a little angry at the selfish people who are hanging out in crowds and failing to consider the elderly, the sick and the healthcare workers who are most vulnerable at this time.
I asked Betty how she can stay so calm during all the stress and she gave me this little tip she learned from her friend Kerry.
She said Kerry is really good at managing her emotions. Any time Kerry feels herself about to boil over, she stops everything immediately. She simply shuts off, cools down and refuses to burn someone else by spreading anger, negativity and frustration.
Kerry the kettle joined Betty and me for our afternoon tea break. She is a great coach and demonstrated very effectively how to simply shut off if you’re about to boil over. It’s amazing the things you can learn from your small appliances during a difficult time.
I practised Kerry’s technique of simply shutting down before passing my frustration on to others. Boy was her advice timely!
Carmelle issued her amendments to the roommate agreement this afternoon. I asked Carmelle how she managed to type up the agreement, and she explained that she had been taking online keyboarding lessons from one of the home-school moms.
I’ve fallen asleep the past few nights watching Barney Miller episodes on YouTube, so my computer was left open. While I was sleeping, she was studying. “Night school” classes she called them. Apparently she is learning French too and is excelling in that class as you might expect.
When I saw how thick the agreement, was I was about to boil over. Carmelle used almost my whole supply of printer paper. It will only be a few days before I need to start writing on other materials. This made me really angry, but I remembered Kerry’s advice and cooled off by shutting down.
I’m not exactly sure what the agreement says. I didn’t even bother to read it. I just decided to “Accept and Agree” like I do too frequently with those online agreements. I know this is a dangerous digital practice. In this case though, my motivation for accepting Carmelle’s terms was motivated by genuine love. I could not imagine anything I wouldn’t do for my cats.
I hope that all of you have someone you are willing accept unconditionally, someone who is inspiring you to go the extra mile at this time. If you do, consider yourself very blessed to have that creature in your life and try not to let your frustrations boil over on them.
By the way, in the photo you can see my new friend Kerry the Kettle.
The photos of Carmelle show her when she first presented the agreement to me. (Her confident expression shows she knew I’d accept it.) The other one shows her demonstrating finger stretching exercises the home-school mom taught in the keyboarding tutorial. I hope that all of you who find yourself bored or with extra time on your hands are considering the extra skills you can learn at this time.
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