Processing
I was recently angry that I had a dental issue with significant expenses ahead of me. I headed to a sandwich shop to mope a bit. I tried to use my spiffy smart watch to pay, and it didn’t work. I pulled out my card. I tapped it, and the little screen flashed back at me unapologetically: “Processing” ... it blinked a few times, and the moment got awkward a bit, as I waited before my sandwich artist, hoping it would all turn out ok. ... “Approved” I commented to the worker behind the counter, gotta love the machine, it has no problem telling us it’s processing. I need to do that too! Just put my hand up and let everyone know… I’m processing. I can’t do anything else right now.” I delivered as if I were a stand-up comedian. She laughed and said she’d never thought of it like that. The machine quickly taught me something: It’s ok to simply say, “I’m processing”. It is ok to process the difficulty undistracted and just sit with it. It's ok to take one or two bre...
