Power Struggle.

I've spent the better part of an hour searching for the charging dongle for my Fitbit.  It drives me nuts that one tiny piece of wire can control my life -- let alone the Fitbit guilt associated with the statistics provided to my cellphone, but it's the 21st century reality.  As I tried to find the darned charger last evening to charge overnight, I encountered so many cords for so many gadgets -- and I'm afraid to toss any of them for fear that that particular cord  is they only one that works, and that misplacing or losing it renders something else useless.

Disconnected.

Much like the  charging cords in my basket in the living room, the bookshelves in my classroom and the "idea" files on my computer overflow with the philosophy of "Someday I may need this or try this."  And while I know approximately where things are, most of the time, I tend to stress myself out by admonishing myself for not being more organized.  I realize that kind of thinking is less than productive, as it only serves to make me more frantic and overwhelmed, taking the focus away from the task at hand.

Today I read an interesting article about encouraging resilience in children, and instantly jumped to my charging cord dilemma.  There is a huge difference between an anxious mind and a resilient mind, the article argues, and that those who demonstrate resilience are less likely to require mental health interventions in the future.   Certainly, the article argues the positive aspects of a positive mind -- which aligns with the good work of Carol Dweck's Mindset that I've fully embraced.  Positive Penguins may be targeted at elementary school students and teachers, but these tuxedo-wearing friends have served to make the search and rescue of the tangled cords in my basket something better. 

Oh, and I found a new use for my label maker!  I'm currently attaching labels to every cord in the basket -- and hoping that I have the courage to put the unlabelled cords "someplace safe" in the laundry room for a year to see if any of them are actually valuable.

Remind me, in a year, where that "someplace safe" actually is next week, when I can't find a cord I need, will you?