Frame every so-called disaster with these words, “Will this matter in five years?” I am going to try this. I challenge you to do the same. I recently involved my father in a so-called disaster by damaging his vehicle when I was leaving work. First of all, he trusted me to take his jeep while my car was being taken care of in a shop. I was backing out of a small car lot when I heard the horrible sound of a bolt on a telephone pole scraping the side of his jeep. I was so paranoid about another car in the lot, that I did not even take notice of the pole. (Just to let you know, I am not the first person to have a run in with this exact bolt on the telephone pole. I believe there are three others who have done the same, at least three that I have heard of. There is an array of colored paint scraped along it). What is the deal with that? Anyway, quite frantic in my “real” or “so-called” disaster I immediately phoned him. I explained the situation and his reaction was a bit more relaxed than I expected. He is not always so calm, I must admit Again and again, I apologized and offered to do what I could to help and he finally said, “I thought about it Beth, will it really matter in five years from now? It probably will not. I’m not happy, but we’ll do what needs to be done and take care of it.” WOW! That was a very nice reaction. I was so thankful for this reaction and amazed as well. And I felt that this was a lesson to be learned. What a smart way of dealing with situations. It is too often that we find ourselves over dramatizing a circumstance that needs a little more time of reflection. I was lucky that my dad read an article forwarded to him by email soon before the accident. It simply gave short statements of advice and that happened to be one of them. It’s great to take the time to read those advisable articles…but it is better to actually practice them. I was visiting my parents the other night and saw an article hung on a cork board above my dad’s desk in his workspace. It had bold black sharpie words written on the top in my dad’s handwriting “READ THIS AGAIN.” It was just a bunch of sentences numbered down the paper. I was interested in what it had to say. Number sixteen of the article was the first sentence of my blog. It reminded me of his desire to listen to what he read and honestly give it a shot. Thanks dad…this blog is for you! I hope you all are inspired to try it out in moments of so-called disasters as well. Give yourself a break…or as in my situation, give someone else a break!