Beauty Today: power cuts
Photo By: rakeif
It’s a beautiful morning. You stretch, rub your eyes and slowly get up. The sun is shining and it looks like it’s going to be a great day. You wash your teeth, and then proceed to make a cup of tea. But, there is a problem. There is no power. This also means that if the water boiler in the bathroom doesn’t have any hot water in it, you will have to take a cold shower. It also means that you cannot blow dry your hair, make toast, and you certainly cannot use the internet. It’s beyond frustrating, especially when it happens at least once a week. In the western world, a power cut would be very rare and when it did happen, most of the time it wouldn’t take a long time for it to come back. Here, when the power is out, there’s no guarantee that it will come back within the hour. Sometimes it’ll take a few minutes, other times it’ll take an hour or two, and sometimes it takes half a day or a whole day for it to return. When you have something to do, or you need a shower in order to start your day, these random and frequent power cuts are rather annoying.
And yet, they have another side to them. Yes, they are inconvenient, but sometimes the inconvenience forces you to discover new things, new ways of doing things. So the tea won’t be made using the tea kettle, but the gas oven can be used. It takes longer, but the cat can be fed in the mean time. Regular toast can’t be made, but I can melt some cheese on bread in the oven, something which I don’t often do because again, it takes more time, but it is rather tasty. I can’t wash my hair because I can’t blow dry it, and not blow drying it causes some pretty intense headaches. But, I can always wear my hair up, which I don’t like to do, but from time to time, it’s rather refreshing. So the internet can’t be used, but the books on my bookshelf can finally be looked at. The albums I said I’d make can be started. The house can be cleaned up a bit. The cat can be played with. Shopping can be done. A walk can be enjoyed. A phone call can be made to someone you don’t usually talk to (assuming you have a corded phone). The dinner could be eaten in candle light. You get the idea, right?
Not having electricity for a day is a complete nightmare for the modern person, but if we can sit back, take a deep breath and just accept that the news will not be read today, or the blog post will be a few hours late, or the e-mail won’t be checked until tomorrow, then we can enjoy those things that 24 hour electricity has taken away from us. Really, it can be quite enjoyable to do things differently from time to time. And, if there is an absolute need for the internet, there are always internet cafes that can be used. Perhaps the inconvenience will annoy you at first, but after the use of the internet, treat yourself to a nice cafe that you always wanted to try. Walk through that park that you always wanted to walk through but always had to rush by in order to make it somewhere on time. Take a book with you and read on a bench in a park. Build a snowman in your backyard. The point is not to sulk about not being able to do that which you had planned for the day, but to do something that you wouldn’t have done if the electricity would have been on. For the reasons stated above, I’ve come to rather enjoy power cuts. They are still frustrating some days, but I am learning to get over it rather quick. All I have to do is look in the direction of my bookcase and my frown turns into a smile within seconds.
6 Responses to “Beauty Today: power cuts”
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I write about self-improvement. I write about my conception of beauty and love. I write about happiness and traveling. I write about cherishing the old. And I write Monday - Friday.
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I’m actually a bit fan of power outages because I love all the opportunities you mentioned, it’s so nice to stop and realize that you can’t do the things you would normally do or are supposed to do, it’s a lovely excuse to relax and read especially. But – I can imagine it would be very frustrating to have the power cut on a semi-regular basis! I’m impressed you’re so zen about it!
It’s always nice to think about some of the beautiful moments that can happen when we embrace a disruption in our routine, lovely post :)
Alana´s last blog ..Monday sucks
It’s funny that I wrote about that yesterday. This morning, I wake up and there was no power. It took quite a few hours for it to come back. My first reaction was anger – I wanted (needed, so I thought) to check my e-mail. I wanted to take a shower and start my day off right. I wanted it to be productive. For a couple of minutes I was walking around the house sulking, and then I remembered my post. It’s okay. I went back to bed and decided to read a book I started a few days ago. Now, hours later, the power is back up (hence just checking the blog for comments) and I am so glad that the power was out, because what I had read in my book, I feel like I really needed to read. I’m not always zen, but I do try to be. Also, in some ways, it’s easier to be zen when it happens often – you just get used to it. :)
Alana is right. “Lovely post”! I overstay my welcome. But I so delight in your strategy to beat the blues. May I offer what works for me?
1. I remove ‘toxic’ words and thoughts. “Inconvenient…complete nightmare…intense headache…quite (enjoyable)…sulk…rather (enjoy)… rather (quick).” I find using such words makes their emotions flow in my veins. They moderate happiness. I stop them by swapping them immediately.
2. I jump the middle step. I break any negative pattern immediately by saying aloud: FANTASTIC! WONDERFUL. THERE’S A GOOD REASON FOR THIS. I AM ABOUT TO DISCOVER SOMETHING MARVELLOUS! I smile. Like you, I have learned to switch. The difference is that I omit that voluntary ‘pain’ in the middle. By practice, I am now hard-wired to be happy. If I feel a bit low, my brain runs my instant-joy programme nearly automatically.
If I miss a bus, I say/ know/ believe there is a very good reason. Probably, I am meant to meet someone on the next bus. (And it is usually the case). I am meant to see something, learn something unique. By choice, immediately, I am boosted.
3. I could list all the things that are right in my life or in the moment. Too many to list! Eyesight, a succession of images, marvellous thoughts… You reach the point, after maybe 3 months, when just saying FANTASTIC! is like a bucket of delight washing over you. Each time it can add to the feeling of the last. You operate the volume of pleasure.
4. If the power goes off, I celebrate. I have washed in cold water all year for a while. I switched off the winter heating for 2 months longer as an experiment. I was happy! I would say passionately: This is going to be thrilling, and the best yet! And it is. But, if I say, It is cold, my oh my, it feels freezing. I say: I love you! to my absent relatives, as if they are there, and I am thrilled AND WARM.
I do exactly what both of you do, but it goes further. Each step is joy because that is how I label it. So it is. I tune my nervous system. My doctor puzzles how I can lower my blood pressure to that of a young man. I can’t explain it except by my deliberate choice of vocabulary and FEELING the difference. The effects are cumulative.
N.B. There is nothing special about me. Adapt my method. Tell Doubt not to be afraid: it’s OK. Love the child within. Switch on the powerhouse inside!
Alastair Lancaster´s last blog ..Tombstone EU
Alastair, there’s nothing such as overstaying your welcome, at least not on my blog. :) Thank you for the tips there, they are wonderful and very true indeed. I wish everyone could turn around negative thoughts and instead think “Fantastic!”. And everyone can, it only takes a little bit of work and patience.
Funny how reliant we are on electricity…even when I’m expecting a scheduled outage, I’ll move around the house trying to boil water or microwave something.
One of my favorite memories happened when we had a huge storm here and the power was out for hours…my friends and I sat around my bedroom with loads of food and only a flashlight to give us light, and just talked and talked for hours. So fun.
Candice´s last blog ..The Epic Prologue
This reminds me of a time when my boyfriend and I were at Starbucks working on something. A huge storm was approaching, and we could see the black sky coming closer. All of a sudden the entire city of Guelph seemed to loose power. Starbucks had a generator, but it only provided energy to a couple of lights by the exit doors. We sat there for over an hour, in near complete darkness with other people and the workers and just enjoyed the storm outside. It was really a neat experience. They even gave out free drinks, since their cash registers weren’t working.