It Pours When It Rains — Notes On The Process

03/31/25

It Pours When It Rains

I was scribbling in one of my journals. I love writing this way, preparing digital content by longhand with a colored fountain pen (while classical music plays in the background).

Suddenly the smart speaker came on, my wife's frantic voice followed shortly thereafter.

...

When I work, I eliminate as many distractions as humanly possible. My life is pretty uncomplicated so this mainly boils down to the single act of switching my phone to do not disturb. It's why the smart speaker in the living room has become the standard method for my wife to get in touch with me in the event of a true emergency.

I'm not ruthless, I've tried putting her on the "always allowed" contact list. But then I realized the woman I married does whatever she wants, whenever she wants (rules be damned).

I chuckled when I found out my cousin's wife was exactly the same. He once relayed a story of giving her an emergency credit card with explicit rules (hence "emergency" credit card). This experiment quickly came to a halt when his S.O. immediately ran up the bill the next day.

(Context people, I'm just saying this to provide context and not totally airing out my public laundry.)

Onward.

So this was a real crisis and she was rightfully freaking out. The car had overheated to an epic level during her commute. She had to pull over to the side of the freeway - traffic whizzing by as she remained at the speed of 0 mph - because the vehicle sounded like it was near-explosion.

...

My overthinking mind is usually prone to panicking at a pin drop. I am the atomic bomb to the regular person's grenade. After the event sets me off to a thousand from zero, I'll spend the rest of the day in a mental hangover.

But this time, I guided myself into the opposing direction of a freakout by focusing on only what was within my control (guess those books on stoicism are finally paying off). I chose to remain even keel and the result is that I was able to calmly think ahead a few steps while solutions came easily, instead of staring like a deer into headlights like I normally do.

Long story short, everything got resolved.

Yet there was a concept which served as the precursor to it all, without this I probably would have never even moved a single brainy muscle. I imagine it as the cynical twin sister to the stoic idea of letting go. This closely related relative is called ...

... Murphy's Law.

So the next time you deal with an unpredictable, unexpected situation that unwelcomely falls into your lap, remember that whatever can go wrong will go wrong.

Cheers.

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