Restarting in 3...2...1....

I have made some truly wonderful friends online and the other evening I was chatting with one of them via direct messaging.  When I chat online, I’m usually in multiple sites and writing or exploring so I depend on notifications to know when someone messages me back.  During this particular conversation, my phone was failing in the notification department so I left my friend hanging a few times.

Technology is an amazing thing, but from time to time it fails.  The first order of all things technology, before you resort to messing with settings or contacting support, is to restart the device you are on.  After many years of working on a computer, this is one lesson I learned well.  So on this particular day, I restarted my phone.  Wah-lah!  I immediately starting getting notifications again. 

I shared with my online friend what I had done and she said, “Strange how sometimes a restart is all that is needed.”  This friend knows I am a writer and mentioned that there was probably a story in there somewhere.  She was right.  The idea that restarting could so easily correct some inconsistencies or glitches left me thinking about that concept and what it looks like in day to day living. 

How great would it be if when things are going off the rails or it seems nothing is working as it should, we could just shut the day down and restart it?  What if a really bad day could be turned around by taking a moment to close down and start over?  I know that in a busy day, and especially one where everything seems to be going south, it’s hard to take the time for a reboot.  Have you ever had your computer decide to update when you have a million things to get done in a work day?  What’s to do but wait for it to be ready to resume?

I’ve had some days recently that a restart could have been so helpful!  What if, when you’re feeling overwhelmed or frustrated or frazzled or sad, you took ten minutes to power down, take some deep breaths, say a prayer or take a short walk, then power back up?  It may not be a complete fix for whatever is going on, but it may help you reset mentally so you can move forward with a renewed focus.  Just as with technology, maybe it could be the first step to try instead of the last.  Reboots are known to keep your devices running at optimal efficiency.  Maybe it could work for humans, too.