Welcome to my class.
Today we’d be looking at Murphy’s Law (which happens to be very similar to “being worried from the village”) and how I dealt with it when it appeared the logical thing to do was give up and write to dear John.
According to the phrasing of Edward A. Murphy, “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."
It could be interpreted in layman's terms as "When shit is bound to happen, it happens in the shittiest of ways."
It takes a typical female between 20 to 45 minutes to wake up, get up from bed, spend quality time in the bathroom (empty bowels, brush tooth, obsess over anatomical flaws and have a shower while pondering over outcomes of issues she cannot necessarily influence), get dressed and be ready for the day.
On average I am able to do all that (including blow a kiss at my reflection #self love before leaving the house) in about 15 minutes.
As a result of this I have time for life’s little pleasures like savoring a warm cup of something while munching on something else, scrolling through my phone and catching up with the news updates, social media and any text messages that might have wandered in while I was away.
Today was business as usual until my flat mate heard me switch on the heater and decided to scurry into the bathroom when my back was turned.
Initially I was like no problem, he’s a guy. Guys don’t have much to do in the bathroom.
In no time he’d be out.
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I thought I could no longer tell time when I caught a glimpse of my wall clock and the hands were indicating 20 minutes had elapsed since I made a first attempt to have a bath.
To be sure I was reading correctly, I checked the time on my mobile phone and pc as well.
I marched to the bathroom door and twisted the handle.
It was locked.
What on earth is he doing in there?
I listened for sounds of distress, notes of a song, the whirr of a clipper... anything that would explain what he was doing in the bathroom for over 20 minutes.
Nothing.
I was not in a good mood.
I considered throwing on clean clothes, splashing on perfume and bouncing out like a boss but my toothbrush was being held captive in the bathroom along with my freedom to bath.
Not having a shower before leaving the house was a small thing but going out without cleaning my mouth is a crime.
He eventually came out and had the audacity to hum happily as he padded to his room.
I had an abbreviated routine and dashed out of the house in a bid to catch the bus.
I saw the bus!
I ran towards the bus stop and watched in horror as it pulled away.
The next one was due in 15 minutes.
I noticed further up the road, the lights had turned red. I figured if I ran like the wind, I would catch up with the bus at the next stop so run I did!
Just as I was getting close enough to signal for the bus to wait, the lights turned red and off it went.
When it happened a second time I gave up and let the bus go.
I was sweating, my ears were ringing and I was out of breath.
My phone beeped.
It was a reminder that I was late. This was turning out to be a very shitty day.
When I got off the bus I eventually caught, I was welcomed by downpour that began as drizzle.
I screamed in annoyance.
I was like “seriously? Really??” I realized then that if I let it, today was going to be a horrible – horrible day.
I stopped walking briskly and took to a leisurely stroll; noticing people, things and the life around me.
Like a sign, I spotted a friend I had not seen in ages. We chatted for a bit and parted ways.
Finally, I was at my destination.
Turned out I was not the only one late.
The high point of the day was going to the laboratory and finding out we were going to be running tests on samples of shit (faeces).
I laughed at the irony.
If I did not choose to dwell on positivity, the rest of my day could have been one misfortune after the other because I believed that because things were going wrong, it was only going to get worse.
This piece is basically a note to self that for every Murphy’s Law, there is a Charlie’s Law, which states; everything turns out right… when you let it.
It is a matter of choice.
Peace!
*ps:
Charlie's Law is from a book by Charles H. Ware titled Murphy's Law Repealed! it includes the following chapters
1. Murphy's Law Repealed!
2. If You Need Something, It Will Come to You
3. When Faced with a Difficult Task, Start
4. Just When You Think You've Run Out of Time, You're Done
5. If at First You Don't Succeed, Relax and You Will
6. You Are the Person You'd Like to Become
7. Everything You Do That Comes From Love, Works
8. When Life Seems Overwhelming, Do Less
9. If You Reach the End of Your Rope, Let Go and Fly
10. When You Choose Peace, You Get Peace
11. Live Each Day as If It Were Your First
12. When You Let Go, You Feel Joy
