When the manual just isn’t enough

Funny story:

The other day, I was innocently sitting and doing some work when the internet cut out. As I always do, I unplugged the router and plugged it back in, thinking that would do the trick. It didn’t. I went on to Plan B — wait until it turns back on. That usually does the trick.

3.5 hours later I was still without internet. I called the internet company, went through the usual checks with them on the phone, and they declared that they needed to send a technician to come and check it…and that he would come within 48 hours.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Did I mention that I was starting my new group program THAT NIGHT and needed my internet to access my notes and the conference interface?!?!

Off I went to a friend’s house to download my notes and decided to do the call from my cell phone.

On the morning of Day 2 (ie still within the 48 hours), I was sitting in front of my phone waiting for my 9:15 appointment to call me. 9:23 came and she still hadn’t called. She sent me an email (I had borrowed a netstick from a friend) saying that she had tried to call my phone a few times and I didn’t pick up, and she’ll try me again later.

Hello, I was sitting right in front of my phone!

Strange, I thought, as I dialed my home number from my cell. It rang on my cell, but no phone was ringing in my house.

Even stranger. Was my phone line broken and that was the whole internet problem?

I picked up my house phone and heard a dial tone. Didn’t seem to be broken.

Then I thought — hmmm maybe I should see if I can make outgoing calls. I called my cell phone from my house phone.

I heard the ring in my ear on the house phone.

My cell started ringing. That’s good.

There was just one little problem.

IT WASN’T MY HOUSE NUMBER SHOWING UP ON MY CELL PHONE’S CALLER ID!!!

Well, it didn’t take any rocket scientist to figure out what must have happened. Somehow the phone wires were switched, and we were getting our neighbors’ phone line, and they were getting ours.

I called the phone/internet company to update them and found out that the technician had been there that morning and couldn’t figure out what was wrong, so he left. Great, thanks.

Hmmmmmm.

Something tells me that this is what happens when we view situations in life very linearly. This is the problem, so this is the logical solution. Just follow the manual, right?

This got me thinking. (I love doing that.)

What happens when the problem isn’t so straight forward?

This is what happened when there were just two simple wires involved.

But what happens when there are trillions of interconnected neurons and cells and systems and situations — all moving around the clock.

What if…

What if when we’ve gained a bit of weight, the manual says to go on a diet.

What if the manual says to go off of gluten.

What if the manual tells us that the problem lies in the excess of carbohydrates that we’re eating.

But what if the manual isn’t solving the problem?

What if the manual is so generic that it can’t possibly help the situation that’s going on in the complex body that is mine? Or yours. Or YOURS. Yes, you, over there.

What if lately your body has been giving you messages that is needs complex carbohydrates? Does it make sense to tell your body, “No, no, dear, you don’t know what’s good for you. Read the manual — it says you shouldn’t be eating so many carbs. You already had one portion today, and that’s enough for you. You can’t possibly know what’s good for you. The manual knows better.”

Fill in whatever message you’ve been getting. It will work every time.

Often times, we need to analyze what’s happening with a discerning eye. To see what can be truly be done for this unique situation.

Wouldn’t it be amazing that instead of a person opening up some generic manual, they would instead be able to take a step back from the situation and evaluate where it makes the most sense to uncover the underlying issues slowing them down?

To understand what message our body is giving us.

So maybe there’s a better way to do it.

Food for thought.

P.S. Long story short, another technician came out and gave us back our phone line. Except that for another day our neighbors ALSO had our phone line. So when I was out and called my house phone, our Russian neighbor answered. But this time I had the technician’s cell phone number, so I was able to call him back without having to wait another 48 hours for him to come back…