Discounting failed marriages and bad investments, both of which count as major disasters, most of life’s problems are little things. Dinners burnt. Stuff you meant to pick up at the grocery, but forgot. Appointments missed. Fender benders, dents, dings, and forgotten oil changes. Tires that got old too fast. Appliances that stop working before you finish paying for them. Computer viruses and bad software.
Little things can accumulate into bigger things. If you forget enough appointments with your dentist, you lose the tooth. When you burn the holiday dinner, those accusing eyes at the dinner table can make you feel like the turkey at the feast. The Titanic was not sunk by a big hole in the hull. It was thousands of popped rivets that turned her into a sieve. And down went the big ship to the briny deep.
Speaking of the small stuff and a life of perpetual crisis, I have an acquaintance — an almost friend — for whom everything is the end of the world. Life is one huge calamity. She’s a Facebook kind of gal, so no matter what happens, she’s telling the world the sky is falling. On her. It’s personal. If it’s snowing, it’s to punish her. Ditto if it’s raining. (She’s the person who complains it’s raining in the middle of a drought.)
I thought about it one day after reading one of her posts. Her usual collection of followers were commenting on how she is the unluckiest woman on earth.
Is she? A few minutes of pondering made me realize I have as many bumps in my road of life as she does. On a bad year, probably more. Mostly, unless it’s serious enough to sink the ship of state, I fix the problem as best I can and move on.
So much of “disaster” is perspective, response, and perception. We choose how to deal with the stuff we encounter. I expect the airline to lose our luggage (or some piece of it), but I also count on them to find it again. It’s an inconvenience, not the end of the world. I try not to let it define our travels.
If every problem is a cataclysm, we are the boy who cried wolf. Our friends and family stop listening so when a really bad thing happens … no one is there.
SERENDIPITY: SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
I’ve actually (mostly) given up FaceBook because of “friends” like this. Drive me crazy!
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What makes me crazy is that most of them make their OWN problems. If they stopped complaining, they might notice life is not all bad. If it weren’t for Farm Town, I’d probably give up FB too … but addicted is addicted.
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When you see Ms. Calamity Jane the Sky is Falling give them this song. LOL!! 🙂 😀
Don’t Nobody Bring Me No Bad News
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Love your take on the prompt. I know people like your FB person I always am amazed by them.
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I run out of sympathy and patience pretty fast these days. They make me crazy.
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You’re spot on about the boy who cried wolf.
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Perhaps social media’s become the new opium of the masses? I like my social media just as much as anybody, but I have to consciously step back at times to avoid becoming over-addicted to it and how it lifts/sinks my mood.
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I’m a light social media user. I forget to check it. Blogging scratches the itch pretty thoroughly. Part of the reason I blog was to not deal with the crazy people on Facebook.
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Some make drama out of their disasters–others use it to fuel their humor. Thank goodness!
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I’m always glad to find fodder for a good, funny story. Life is hard, but laughter softens the impact 😁
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Less is more.
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I was following a blogger who thrived on – relished – her pain, misfortune and general victimhood. You could almost see the the wrist to the brow. It was sort of compulsive reading for a while, in a train-wreck kind of way, but after a while I wanted to smack her and tell her to grow up and get over herself. You can only sympathise for just so long with people who choose not to help themselves.
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That’s exactly my reaction. Initial sympathy, but when you see it happening again and again … the same stuff, the same situations. You have to begin to question what’s REALLY going on.
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Ditto!!
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Hey!, all in all life is a Bi—h, but it just make us appreciate the good days more….
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True. Anyway, most things seem a lot less important after a few hours have passed. One of the positive things about the weird memory glitches of age is that I don’t even remember most of yesterdays’ crises 🙂
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Tomorrow…is another day!
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My thoughts to a tee. Nobody gets out of this world with out their share of bumps in the road. You can choose to dwell on the downers or soar on the up.
Leslie
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That’s how I’ve worked it out. Making more drama has never made any situation better. There’s much to be said for the British “soldiering on” thing.
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We do have a choice in the matter.
Leslie
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Yes, though I admit I had to get past teenage hormonal angst before I realized it!
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It’s amazing what a little time and experience will do.
Leslie
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And such a relief! If I’d stayed the way I was when I was a teen, I’d never have survived this long.
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I think that was the whole idea, Marilyn.
Leslie
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You can worry about it later…when you sleep THE BIG SLEEP.
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Perfect timing for that.
Leslie
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Leslie, Mitchum delivered the line in his reboot of “The Big Sleep”. I liked his weary take of Sam Spade.
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😉
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You’re getting more like DiNozzo every day Garry… 🙂
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I have a niece like that. Everything is a tragedy. Everything. The whole world is against her and she can do no wrong. She’s also a Facebook drama queen, and while I still have her as a Facebook friend, her stuff no longer gets posted to my newsfeed. It’s just too much.
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I have almost closed down my almost friend. I think her complaining about the rain in the middle of a drought did it for me. It occurred to me that she is not only a drama queen, but stupid, too.
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Maybe it’s better they unload on Facebook than calling on the phone.
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FB is one big epic disaster site most times. I know the types that blame it all on the others and the friends all group around and say how unfair life is to you, we unerstand you and you are right etc. etc. instead of saying what a load of old rubbish and it’s nobody’s business but your own. One thing I have learnt, one step at a time. Rushing into anything will not solve the problem.
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And having 20 people cheering on your bad decisions isn’t healthy, either. Bloggers do this too. I think there are people who thrive on other people’s misery and encourage it. One of the things that I have learned is that unless you have heard more than one side of the story, you don’t really know anything.
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Facebook could be an Irwin Allen production!
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