Good afternoon! I hope your day is going well.
My day already started better than yesterday. Picture yourself at 5 AM, standing in front of the coffee maker, patiently waiting for that first cup, and just as the pot starts to make the familiar sound of water heating to the perfect temperature, the power goes out. What??? Are you kidding me??? Now??? It’s pretty much the way I felt when I had my heart attack, except I wasn’t going through caffeine withdrawal at the time.
Few things can mess up my day faster than missing my morning coffee. And it wasn’t a complete power outage that would resolve itself as soon as the power was restored. This was inside my RV, limited to the outlets along one wall – the wall where the coffee pot is plugged in. I swear I heard God chuckling. “Wanna see something funny? Watch this!”
Worse still, that was also the wall where the appliances plug in. So, not only did I miss my morning coffee, I wasn’t able to make breakfast, either. Yes, I have cereal. I didn’t want cereal. I wanted eggs, and that requires plugging in an electric skillet. You know, in the wall with no power.
Check the circuit breakers, you say? I did. Four times, just in case one was playing possum. I checked the ground-fault plug in the bathroom. I checked the shore power outside. I even fired up the generator, hoping a double-dose of electricity would somehow set things right. Yes, I know better. But desperate times call for irrational measures.
The problem was a breaker on the power inverter. It was nice of the manufacturer to put that in the “owner’s manual.” Okay, it would have been nice if they’d actually written one. They didn’t. And whose idea was it to hide the inverter behind a nondescript panel in an outside compartment where nobody would think to look for it? It was like an Easter egg hunt with NO COFFEE.
I have this image of myself as a carefree spirit who adapts on the fly to whatever is happening at the moment. I guess that’s part of the attraction to RV living. New faces, new places, and new adventures around every bend. As long as those adventures don’t get in the way of my morning routine. There’s plenty of time for that after I’ve had some caffeine.
We all have routines. Some are good, some not so good, and some just are. Regardless, they’re all a part of our day and as much as we’d like to be spontaneous, those routines have a sort of sacred importance. Don’t believe me? Invite my brother to dinner when there’s a ball game on TV. Tell my grandkids we’re out of vitamins. Or ask me to start the day without … well, you know.
Routines are good, to the extent that we know what to expect at a given point in the day. But when we allow those routines to get in the way of other things we want more, they become a liability. Bowling is fun, but is it leading you closer to your dreams or standing in the way? I guess that depends how much you love throwing a 16-pound ball at a rack of wooden pins.
But there are only so many hours in a day, and the question we all have to answer for ourselves is whether we’re spending that time or investing it. And there is no “right” answer, other than how that time fits into our long-term goals. Success doesn’t mean you can never have fun. It just means deciding for yourself what’s more important over the long haul.
If your dream is to become an awesome bowler, there’s your answer. But if there’s something bigger you want out of life, something that will take some time and effort, then you might need to reassess your approach. Besides, if your dream involves extra time and money, you can bowl all you want later.
It’s amazing how many times people have shared a dream, but when you suggest a possible means of achieving that dream, their first response is, “I don’t have time.” Well, we all get the same 168 hours in a week. The majority of that time is consumed with things we have to do. Nothing we can do about that. But it’s how we use those remaining hours that makes the difference.
I doubt your dreams will fall apart if you set aside time for coffee. And I doubt those dreams will fall apart if the coffee maker is broken. But beyond that daily routine, are there things we do just as automatically that really do impact our goals? Spend time or invest it. That’s a choice we all make whether we intend to or not. How important are your dreams? There’s only one way to find out.
That’s all for now. Have an awesome day!
© 2021 Dave Glardon – All rights reserved
Follow @dglardon
Dave Glardon 