Today I want to tell you a story about my boot (trunk).
This boot had been misbehaving, but infrequently.
Sometimes it would open properly; other times I had to hold it open for a few seconds (3 – 4) and then it would stay and I could get my bags out.
For the non-South Africans, we put our handbags in our boots to avoid smash-and-grab incidents at traffic lights.
I lived with the boot for a few weeks and then told the guys who were servicing my car to please fix it.
Turns out there was such a lot wrong with my car (I don’t believe them!) and they did the most urgent thing – brake pads (that I do believe) – and made me a list of everything else I had to sort out.
Well, a few days after that the boot wouldn’t open at all without BRUTE strength.
I don’t have brute strength.
So I popped into the official car dealer to find out the price of the part and when they could fit me in. The lovely man told me they could do it there and then.
And they did.
R662 later. ($60)
That’s all.
I could NOT believe I’d lived with that annoying boot for 4 – 6 weeks and it only cost me R662 to fix!
Of course I couldn’t stop smiling once it was fixed and I may or may not have opened that boot to hear the swish a couple more times than was strictly necessary.
OH THE JOY!
I even called Dion outside that evening to “present” my boot to him, and I beamed like it was a new car 🙂
Coming back to you.
These things we put up with that we really shouldn’t are called tolerations.
Tolerations drain our energy unnecessarily because most of them are quick fixes.
- buying a decent knife for your kitchen
- making a call to just make that appointment already (dentist, gynae, hair, etc.)
- seeing your financial advisor (I’m with someone new and after meeting with her for an hour, she came back a week later with EVERYTHING. That would have taken me hours of phoning around and researching online. Signed a few more forms and my mo.ney is making me more mo.ney. Done!)
- going to order books for friends online so you don’t constantly feel like you’re going to forget their birthdays (with Kindle you can schedule to send to them on the actual day – this is too snazzy for me and I love it)
- one coaching call with a client who said “I can’t believe I’ve been doing it this way for so long. This is going to save me hours a week”.
All of these things are tolerations if left unattended.
Deal with your stuff.
Get the help you need.
You don’t have to put up with your overwhelmed life or not having the time to get to the things you want.
Register now for Help! I need more time. Class starts next Monday.
I just made a dental appointment because my filling feels loose – eek!)
What are some of the tolerations you know you need to deal with?
This reminds me of Gretchen Rubin’s urge to “Identify the problem”. I often remind myself to look at things that are annoying, figure out exactly what annoys me and then DEAL WITH IT without waiting. That’s how I solved one of my biggest pet peeve, which had become a much bigger deal that what it deserves to be: I have no spot to hold a drying rug near the kitchen sink. I once thought about it for 5 minutes, found a small nook to put below the cupboard that is above the sink, and tadaaaa! that was it! That happened many years ago but I can still remember the “wow, that was so simple, I can’t believe I let it annoy me for so long!” sense of relief!
that’s exactly it – tolerations steal our joy a few minutes here and there every day and they don’t have to.
there’s not much as satisfying as quickly sorting out a few of them!
Hi Marcia,
I don’t know how I missed this the first time around but I’ve found it now through your link in today’s blog. I love this term – Tolerations! I didn’t have a term for it but last year, I realized that I live with so many “tolerations” that I cannot change, that I need to change the ones I can. For example, texting – I hated it on my phone enough to consider buying a new phone (because they keypad just couldn’t read my writing and I’d make perhaps 30% typos in every text). My friend changed the size of my keyboard and the problem was mostly solved! I’ve still got my eye open to find those tolerations that try to steal my joy – I love having a word for it now!! Thanks!