This post should have been published yesterday.
I was all set to start writing mid afternoon when a huge storm developed, serious lightning, loud claps of thunder, rain and wind.
The electricity was flickering and went out completely a couple of times so I shut the computer down. I needed some stuff from town so as soon as the rain eased up, off we went. The storm was not over, no sooner did we get to the shops than the heavens opened, we had to buy an umbrella to get back to the car.
Driving home, I thought that I had only lost an hour, still plenty of time to get the rest of my work done for the day and get a blog post written and published. I had not planned a long evening work schedule so I would easily be able to finish everything on my list. Thunder and lightning were still making us jump every few minutes so just to be on the safe side, I thought I would give it another hour before switching on the computer.
That’s when Murphy’s law struck.
Switched the computer on, no internet connection. All the lights on the modem that should have been on were on. This computer has a wireless connection to the modem, I had a different wi-fi problem with the printer earlier in the day so I thought it might be specific to the wireless link. Switched my older computer with its hard-wired link to the modem on, same problem. Tried Sue’s laptop, same again.
Phoned the Internet service provider. Went through the “For technical difficulties press one” circus and eventually got the recording that suggested I unplug the power to the modem, wait 10 seconds and try again. That did not work, so I tried to sort it out on-line, got the same instruction and eventually in desperation resorted to struggling with the automated telephone answering system again – one of my pet hates.
After being advised I would have to wait 7 minutes and that the call could be recorded for training purposes ( code for no matter how bad our service, do not swear at our call centre people because we will have the evidence on tape) I was pleasantly surprised to be connected to a real human being. A very helpful and efficient human being too. She did the necessary wizardry, managed to reboot my modem remotely and got me back on-line.
What had looked like just an hour lost had now stretched to over 3 hours. There were a number of urgent things to be done first so the blog post became a casualty.
Life (or a big storm) got in the way. How often does that happen?
A one day delay in publishing a blog post is not the end of the world. But what about the effects of other much more disruptive chance events?
Our lives can be changed in the space of a heart beat, accidents, illness, sudden unemployment, business failure can all strike with little or no warning. Just one example, on the morning of my heart attack 18 months ago, I woke up, had breakfast and started my day normally not for a moment thinking that I would be in the critical care section of the hospital that afternoon. Unable to continue my business and with most of my income cut off overnight, things did not look good at all.
What saved me mentally and helped financially was that I had a plan B. An Internet Marketing business and this blog already up and running, just needing time to gear up and develop into a business that could replace my lost income.
It’s not just the income, if you have read my story, you will know that I lost all my assets in the violent farm seizures in Zimbabwe. For me losing my main source of income was a huge problem, I had no savings or investments to liquidate, no property or other assets to sell.
Despite that, after realising that I would survive the heart attack but not be able to continue with my old business, I experienced a feeling of loss that was not related to money at all. It was as if I had no purpose, a feeling of being useless, a passenger. It is a common feeling among people who have suddenly lost their main activity for whatever reason. What saved me was knowing I had plenty of work to do, within a week of leaving the hospital I was putting in 8 hours a day on the computer. Between my writing, my new business, walking to regain fitness and my horses, I had a new purpose in life.
Even planned retirement can cause similar feelings if there is nothing in place to give the days structure.
For both financial security and our mental state, we need a plan B. Something that we can have slowly building up but which we can depend on if the worst happens and our world is turned upside down – an all too common event for many people in these times of economic turmoil.
One of the best vehicles for a plan B is promoting Penny Auctions, 4 minutes a day and it could be your lifeline.
Check it out here Zeek Rewards (affiliate link)
Wishing you success in all your endeavours.
Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net