09/29/2026
This wasn’t how I planned to spend my Saturday.
One minute I was going about my day. The next, the vision in one of my eyes had gotten bad enough that we were headed to the emergency room. And apparently I wasn't the only one who needed the ER on Saturday. It was packed.
There wasn’t a room for me, so I spent 5 hours sitting in the hallway while they gave me medication and ran some tests. Eventually they decided to keep me overnight, but there wasn’t a room ready for several hours. And when I finally got one? Observation room. No bathroom. No window. No TV. Very glamorous.
I did, however, get a fabulous pair of those hospital grippy socks, so there’s that.
There were plenty of things I could have been frustrated about. And believe me, I’m not going to pretend I was thrilled to be there.
But at some point I remember thinking:
I can’t change any of this.
I can’t change what happened with my vision.
I can’t make the ER less busy.
I can’t magically produce a hospital room.
I can’t make the tests happen faster.
What I could do was decide how much more miserable I wanted to make myself while I waited. So I talked with the nurses. I joked about the food. I laughed about my very fashionable socks. And I kept reminding myself that I was exactly where I needed to be. I was safe. People were taking care of me. And everyone around me was doing the best they could.
So many of us spend a tremendous amount of energy arguing with circumstances we cannot change. This shouldn’t be happening. I should be able to handle this. This wasn’t the plan. I should be further along by now.
I couldn’t change where I spent my Saturday. But I could laugh with the nurses. I could appreciate the people taking care of me. I could rock the grippy socks. (Okay, not really. No one can rock those!)
Was I in a good mood the whole time? Nope.
Did I pretend everything was great and slap on a fake smile? Also nope.
But I did try to catch myself when I started getting frustrated about things I couldn’t change.
Because there’s a difference between letting yourself be disappointed, scared, frustrated or just plain over it, and letting those feelings take over the whole experience.
I could be frustrated that I was sitting in a hallway .... AND be grateful that doctors were taking my vision seriously.
I could be disappointed that my Saturday went completely sideways ..... AND recognize that I was exactly where I needed to be.
And today, I can be really disappointed that I’m missing out on a really cool conference, something I was genuinely excited about, .... AND know that staying home and taking care of myself is what I need right now.
Maybe that’s the part we forget. We don’t have to love what’s happening. But we do get to decide whether we’re going to spend all of our energy fighting against a reality we can’t change... or figure out how we want to meet the moment we’re actually in.
It's not always easy. Believe me. I've had my moments.
Sometimes the Spark Move isn’t changing the situation. Sometimes it’s simply choosing how you want to show up inside it.
Even in the hallway of the ER , and even in really ugly grippy socks 😜😂