[2022-12-16] Hold on
Our water heater stopped working on Wednesday and it took until today for it to be fixed. Though it wasn't a huge inconvenience, we did miss being able to turn on the tap or the shower and have hot water on demand.
In the intervening days, life continued. As always, we had good moments and bad moments. We were particularly disappointed when the repairman who arrived on Thursday told us that we needed to make an adjustment before he could finish his part. After he left, we worried that we might run into a series of problems that would delay us even further. I tried not to dwell on that possibility.
When the new water heater was installed today, and warm water was once again available, we were all giddy. Something that we took for granted just three days ago seemed like a gift today.
Our recent experience reminded me of something a friend said to me a year ago: "Happy always comes back." It also brought to mind a quote recently attributed to Maya Angelou in a social media post: "Every storm runs out of rain."
The point of statements like these is not to diminish or ignore negative emotions. It sucks when something we've gotten used to is suddenly taken away. It's understandable that we might worry that an uncomfortable situation will persist. It's normal, when we receive bad news, to wonder whether there's another shoe to drop.
But it's also easy to let negative emotions take over. When that happens, mantras like these can help us avoid panicking and focusing on the worst-case scenario. They can remind us that we've gotten through tough circumstances in the past and will do so again. And they can help us hold on until happy comes back or the storm runs out of rain.
