The moment

I’m trying to transfer money. The website I actually wanted to use hasn’t allowed it for days. As an alternative, I go directly to PayPal, happy to finally be able to put my plan into action. But what’s that? First PayPal doesn’t recognize my destination address and when this problem is resolved, there’s suddenly a transfer limit so that I have to carry out my transaction in two steps. I am seething. Everything seems to be conspiring against me. My mood sinks. I get irritated and angry inside …

Does this happen to you? You’re actually having a great day. Everything is wonderful and going well. Your mood is positive, your daily schedule is going perfectly, and the beautiful weather is doing the rest. Then suddenly this: a critical email, an invoice in the post, an unruly computer, a critical comment from a colleague, an unfriendly salesperson, an inconsiderate, honking driver and ”bam“ the good mood is gone. From now on, the day bears the stamp “bad”.

“Bad day or just a bad moment” is the title of the short Ryan Leaks published on this topic and he describes exactly what happens to me so often.
The bad moment doesn’t just remain a bad moment, but I allow this short, bad moment to give my day an emotionally negative direction from then on. I allow this bad moment to hijack my day, so to speak. And I justify my now negative mood with this brief bad moment.

What would it be like if I refused to give such a moment a status that it doesn’t deserve? What would happen if I mentally put this moment in its place and learned to differentiate between bad moments and bad days (which, admittedly, do happen from time to time).

I wish I could more often vehemently refuse to let the bad moments take over, because I know that this moment does NOT determine my day and certainly not my life.

 

PS. This time, you can also listen to the text (see below). Please let me know if this is helpful for you and you prefer listening to reading.