Life Isn't An Emergency

Last Monday, I was tasked to go through spelling with my 8-year-old niece Sarah, who is currently in Primary 2. I checked her spelling exercise book and realised there was no spelling test that day. Instead, the teacher would be doing revision with the class for their exam spelling list. Unfortunately, Sarah had left the list at home and her dad, my brother, was taken ill and resting at home.

Both Sarah and her mother started to panic and hence commenced a flurry of activities to rectify the situation. My brother called me and tried to read out all the spelling words to me over the phone but there were too many words and I could not hear him clearly. So I told him to sms the words to me. He could not do it as 'sms'-ing is not his forte.

In the end, I decided I would drive over to my brother's place to pick up the list before fetching Sarah to school. After all, it was only a revision, not a test so Sarah did not have to learn all the words by that morning. I communicated my decision to my brother and thought that would be the end of the matter. But no, my sister-in-law called my brother-in-law and asked him for help. In the end, he drove over to my brother's place immediately to get the spelling list for Sarah.

For the record, Sarah's teacher did not even use the list in school that day. All that hullabaloo for nothing!

So often we make a mountain out of a molehill and create undue stress for everyone. As author Richard Carlson points out: Life Isn't An Emergency. Sometimes, it really doesn't matter if we're lacking something, or if something is not done yet. We can always get it done another time, another day.

Now when my husband pesters me or hassles me to get something done but I don't consider it urgent, I will tell him, "Darling, life isn't an emergency. Relax, lah!" That helps me to take things in my stride.