Sometimes when I’m hurting during a race or tough tempo run, I sing the Destiny’s Child’s “Survivor” chorus in my head, and life just feels better.
And then there are times I have to do this in other non-running moments, too.
There are a lot of unwanted things that happen to us in life, and we don’t always understand why. Perhaps we never will. But some of those unfortunate instances actually result in good things.
Saturday is normally my favorite day of the week. I mean, there’s froyo, college football in the fall, no work, freedom from schedules (most of the time), dressed-down attire, not waking up before 5 a.m. and so many other things that can make a girl happy. It’s very rare that I ever call a Saturday a bad day.
But there are always exceptions.
Saturday was not a great day. It was really gorgeous outside, and I got to go on a walk with my sister (and we saw a woman walking her pet birds), but other than those two things and my froyo, I wasn’t a fan. The cherry on top came near the end of the day when I was walking into Tom Thumb and dropped my phone. I tend to drop my phone rather frequently, and nothing ever happens to it. Well, apparently that phone decided Saturday was the day it wanted to die (or just shatter its face—whatever). It fell to the concrete, and I kind of knew before I even turned it over that it was going to look like a spiderweb attacked my screen. And even though it felt like the shards of glass were cutting my face, I called my mom.
Sometimes moms just know what to say to make things seem better than they really are.
I was too tired to do anything about the phone Saturday and decided to wait until Sunday to take care of it. I usually hang out with my parents for a bit on Sundays after I go to church, so my mom offered to go with me to the AT&T store while my dad went for a bike ride. With the help of Chris the AT&T guy, I got a pretty good deal on a new phone, and the whole iCloud backup thing actually worked this time, so I didn’t lose anything. (Let’s just say this phone-dropping thing has cost me two phones—and both times on Saturdays. What the heck?)
Shattering my screen obviously isn’t the worst thing in the world. (Side note: I saw a sign yesterday that said, “Our phones fall, and we panic. Our friends fall, and we laugh.” So true.) The phone technically still worked, but it was frustrating not being able to see things as clearly through cracks that look like they belong in an arid field of dirt. I’m pretty sure my life would have been just fine without a replacement, but I won’t complain that things worked out the way they did. And I’m really glad I didn’t lose any of my music—I recently downloaded Avril’s first album and two Wilson Phillips songs. What would I have done if I had lost those?
Not every bad thing that happens will have a positive result, especially not right away. But sometimes you end up with those silver linings, as people like to call them (I hate trite expressions, so forgive me for using one just now—it caused me a little physical pain), and discover that situation you thought was so awful really wasn’t the cause of your demise. Regardless, it’s best not to let those shattered phone screens wreck your attitude.
Because, perhaps like Beyoncé and her homegirls, your mama taught you better than that.
