Delays and Distractions from the Spinning Dots of Technology Failure

It must be a sign.

The spinning dots on my screen have to be telling me to stop. Surely those taunting bits of light signal I’m moving in the wrong direction.

They certainly scream, “you aren’t moving anywhere,” in this moment.

I watch. They spin. All the while I’m getting nothing done that I need to get done because everything I need to get done hide behind those spinning dots.

Believe me, I tried to work. I started a project but soon realized everything I needed for the next step was hiding behind the spinning dots. I tried a second project and the same issues arose. Those dots plotted to hold me hostage for the day.

Giving up becomes a distinct possibility. After all, this had to be a sign.

Once day, I was traveling to a meeting in Mobile from North Alabama along Interstate 65 (because it’s the only interstate going from here to there). I came upon a state trooper parked across both lanes of the interstate, blocking all traffic. I stopped the car, because that’s what you do when you come up on a state trooper parked across the interstate.

It turns out that an 18-wheeler had run off an embankment and the trooper was blocking the road so that tow trucks could pull it out.

I had left for my meeting with a large enough time buffer that I would be able to stop a couple of times if it was necessary. I did not, however, plan for this long of a buffer.

Because it was a time before cell phones, there was no way to call to say I might be late. I had to go with the flow, or more I had to sit with the lack of flow. And so did hundreds of others, because the state trooper stayed in the middle of that interstate for over three hours.

I could have gotten upset, but getting upset wouldn’t have moved the traffic.

Instead, I got out of my car, enjoyed the sun and company of others getting out of their cars, and waited. Three hours later, we were all back on our way. None of us were worse the wear from our experience (not even the driver of the truck, although the truck probably didn’t recover).

That day on the interstate came to mind because this computer crash feels a lot like the state trooper blocking the road. There is nothing I can do about it. There is no way to make it magically move. It forces me to sit and wait.

My husband came home from work while I was still sitting and waiting. “How was your day,” he asked.

I smiled, because what else can you do when you have spent the last eight hours watching lights spin in a circle on your screen. “I practiced patience.”

It was something. Despite feeling like it was nothing, there was something that came from the day.

Moving Beyond the Spinning Dots

• Beyond what you expect – be willing to look beyond what you expected to find. Or at least be willing to look at things with a different focus or intent. Don’t be so fixated on just your way that you miss out on potentials you would have never dreamed up on your own.
• Around the bend – be willing to see past the moment to the next moment, the next day, or the next week. Don’t be so locked into right now that you begin to believe that right now is all there is.
• Out of your hands – be willing to accept that you don’t get to control it all, and you probably get to have complete control over even less than you think. Don’t be so obstinate that you block your peace from flowing.

The spinning lights continued to spin and didn’t give me anything that I needed or wanted. I missed some marks that I wanted to meet – much like that day on the interstate when I missed my meeting.

I could continue to dwell in that missed moments and whine about what should have been, but it won’t get me any closer to where I want to go.

Take a deep breath.

Tomorrow will be a new day.

Be blessed,

What have you faced or are you facing that you are allowing to hold you back from where you want to go?

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