By Linda-Ann Stewart

A month ago, I took my car into the dealership for some routine maintenance, as well as to address a recall for the automatic window switch. The closest dealer is 60 miles away in Prescott. I contacted a friend there, and mixed a chore with pleasure. While my car was being worked on, we had lunch and visited.

Two days later, when I rolled the car window down, I discovered that the whole mechanism was loose. I had to make another trip to the dealership to get it checked. Again, I was able to have something fun to do while I was there. Jeff and I had a picnic by one of their lakes.

Unfortunately, the part was broken and they had to order it, which would necessitate a third visit to the dealership. At the last minute, I was able to schedule a lunch with another friend the day it was finally repaired.

Although it was annoying that each visit took several hours out of my day, I did my best to create something good out of each of them. I got to visit with two friends I don’t get to see very often, and Jeff and I created the space for a picnic. That  doesn’t mean that I didn’t vent a bit about the inconvenience. But I decided I wanted to use my energy to make lemons into lemonade.

When you have something irritating happen, you can either waste your energy on being unhappy or you can find some way to have fun with it. It’s your choice and all in your perspective. I invite you to empower yourself. Engage your creativity and find a way to put your energy to constructive use.