"Crackberry" BluesSome of my friends chided me last week for writing about weather and mass transit stuff - they were incredulous that I failed to mention the ‘blackberry thing’. I guess I didn’t want to expose how little I really know about the technology I use. But they’re right: I should mention the ‘blackberry thing’.
I’m definitely a "Crackberry" addict – I love my old Blackberry Curve and am to the point where I feel naked and lost without it. Hey – before you snicker, how often do you feel for and check your mobile phone? How long can you go between looking at your email? And how often have you done this while in the middle of talking to someone so you can look at, or respond to, a message? Tweets, Facebook, Instant Messaging – they’re all there to feed this addition. Your contact list – forget about remembering anyone’s phone or email or snail mail – they’re just a click away. And the calendar – you never have to remember where you’re going – just look when you hear the alert. Sound familiar???
So last week when I had to change my settings, they said: just “back it up” onto the blackberry app you download from the web. Easy, right? Not! I clicked on all the right options and chose all the new settings and when I went back to restore all the old settings and information: NOTHING WAS THERE! Cooler, more experienced heads might have just done it over or rebooted but I got dizzy and felt like I’d been hit by a semi on the cyber highway. I was freakin’ lost! How was I going to do all those things I love to do while running around trying to do everything else: call my mother – I don’t remember her phone number; pay my online bills – they were no longer online; get in touch with that friend or business associate – their addresses were gone? This made me remember that song Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone - I felt like the sunshine went out on my ability to connect and communicate and in my head I kept hearing the part where he sings: I know, I know, I know, I know…for what seemed like fifteen minutes. For me, right then, “there ain’t no sunshine when your phone dies”!
This is the point where us 60 something’s need to check with an in-the-know 20 something; this is the point where we realize that we - need others - this is the point where we need to remember there are solutions to the seemingly insurmountable problems that challenge us each day - this is the point where we need to be open to the experience and help that others can offer.
If you’re going to get involved in anything – especially newfangled and somewhat complex things like these new smartphones (or all those other complex things you’re doing today) – then you need to take charge of learning all you need to know about what makes them work. You need to network and search to find out what you don’t know; you need to calm down and find and use all the help that’s available. Internet searches, calls to friends, checking with experts, reading the user guides and FAQs and taking lots of deep breaths while telling yourself that it all really will work out. Most of this stuff can be figured out if you slow down and calmly take your time to take stock of all that’s out there. Yeah, I know we’re all too impatient for that but I also know (now) that patience is (like your mother used to say) a virtue. And I also now know that with most of these new fangled things, you can’t live with them almost as much as you can’t live without them. So take charge of the things that are going on in your world today and make them all they can be.
I’m definitely a "Crackberry" addict – I love my old Blackberry Curve and am to the point where I feel naked and lost without it. Hey – before you snicker, how often do you feel for and check your mobile phone? How long can you go between looking at your email? And how often have you done this while in the middle of talking to someone so you can look at, or respond to, a message? Tweets, Facebook, Instant Messaging – they’re all there to feed this addition. Your contact list – forget about remembering anyone’s phone or email or snail mail – they’re just a click away. And the calendar – you never have to remember where you’re going – just look when you hear the alert. Sound familiar???
So last week when I had to change my settings, they said: just “back it up” onto the blackberry app you download from the web. Easy, right? Not! I clicked on all the right options and chose all the new settings and when I went back to restore all the old settings and information: NOTHING WAS THERE! Cooler, more experienced heads might have just done it over or rebooted but I got dizzy and felt like I’d been hit by a semi on the cyber highway. I was freakin’ lost! How was I going to do all those things I love to do while running around trying to do everything else: call my mother – I don’t remember her phone number; pay my online bills – they were no longer online; get in touch with that friend or business associate – their addresses were gone? This made me remember that song Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone - I felt like the sunshine went out on my ability to connect and communicate and in my head I kept hearing the part where he sings: I know, I know, I know, I know…for what seemed like fifteen minutes. For me, right then, “there ain’t no sunshine when your phone dies”!
This is the point where us 60 something’s need to check with an in-the-know 20 something; this is the point where we realize that we - need others - this is the point where we need to remember there are solutions to the seemingly insurmountable problems that challenge us each day - this is the point where we need to be open to the experience and help that others can offer.
If you’re going to get involved in anything – especially newfangled and somewhat complex things like these new smartphones (or all those other complex things you’re doing today) – then you need to take charge of learning all you need to know about what makes them work. You need to network and search to find out what you don’t know; you need to calm down and find and use all the help that’s available. Internet searches, calls to friends, checking with experts, reading the user guides and FAQs and taking lots of deep breaths while telling yourself that it all really will work out. Most of this stuff can be figured out if you slow down and calmly take your time to take stock of all that’s out there. Yeah, I know we’re all too impatient for that but I also know (now) that patience is (like your mother used to say) a virtue. And I also now know that with most of these new fangled things, you can’t live with them almost as much as you can’t live without them. So take charge of the things that are going on in your world today and make them all they can be.
My message this week is about (you guessed it) – ownership:
“What you RESIST, PERSISTS. If you take ownership and deal with things that are bothering you, then in the very process of dealing with them, they very often will go away.” -Unknown
How many things won’t go exactly as you planned today? And what will you do about that? Will you be prepared for the things that might happen today - or will you just start the day and hope for the best? Will you think about all that might happen before it does or will you just expect to be able to react as they happen? When faced with the things that happen, will you calmly assess the situation or just accept it and hope that it will be as good as it needs to be? Truth be told, you need to be a whole lot more engaged in the things that happen in your world so that you can have some control over them, so that you can learn and grow from them. You know that they’re not just going to go away - all of this stuff really does matter to you or others and if you get engaged and pay attention and work hard at them, you can own the results that happen in your life. You need to take ownership and deal with the things that that are bothering you today (and everyday) – and make them go away.
Stay well!
Stay well!
No comments:
Post a Comment