... those are the good times

I had to hold my breath for a second or two when I got to the studio today. I was attempting to get some artwork done on a website but I couldn't bring up the hard drive that has everything on it. I'm talking literally everything about every website, art project, video project and more. The two Terabyte drive has been a stalwart tool for over year now and I hadn't backed it up with another one due to lack of funding for equipment. I will be getting a back up soon.
I unplugged it and put it on another computer and it fired right up. I sighed a huge sigh of relief and went about my way finding out what had happened. For some reason that particular USB port on the back of the new computer doesn't read.... and so .... I got the artwork done and went on to other things.
How often do we get surprises I wonder? How many times do we expect one thing and another thing happens, spoiling our otherwise comfortable lives? Probably too many to keep up with, but my point is we should always be ready for changes and we're not.
The latest electric bill arrives and includes a new raise in rates. The refrigerator stops cooling. The neighbor calls and informs you that your son has just broken a large picture window while playing ball in the street and by the way, a valuable vase was destroyed by the 'home run' as well.
Are we prepared? Not for the most part; usually we just take it on the chin and carry on. Most of us have a second gear when it comes to life's adversities. We settle in at a certain pace and when trouble comes we tighten up and ready ourselves for the blow we know is about to arrive, if it hasn't already. That's when the pace changes. Things begin to happen faster and faster until we are overwhelmed and that's when we react.
But just how do we react? Are we calm and cool and unaffected? Or do we become enraged and sullen and arbitrary? I find my self in the second category on too many occasions, wishing I was in the first category.
But I do have to add that there are times... wonderful times that I allow the adversity to 'bounce off' and I carry on relatively unaffected. Those are the good times.