Rebounding
My wife and I were walking to the pub today for a Sunday roast.
We took a “scenic route” along a small riverside path in Islington, tucked away between Essex Road and Upper Street.
As we were walking, she dropped her AirPods case and the two AirPods scattered away in random directions. One, luckily, came to a stop in the path in front of her. The other was nowhere to be seen, having catapulted itself into a thick bush row running alongside the river.
We spent 5-10 minutes pawing our way through leaves (and a fair amount of litter) to no avail. My wife was getting increasingly frustrated at herself for being careless, and it started to turn her mood away from the relaxed Sunday afternoon vibes I was hoping for her.
Then, during my last quick sweep, I spotted the AirPod nestled beneath a small canopy of leaves. We picked it up, brushed it off, and all was good. I noticed it lifted her mood back up and even above where it was before she dropped the AirPods in the first place. Somehow, rebounding from the funk meant she was now even more happy and relaxed than she would otherwise have been.
It made me think that short-term annoyances solved well are actually an opportunity to boost your mood back above the baseline. I won’t be actively throwing my AirPods at the floor trying to replicate the experience, but next time I get hit with a setback I’m going to try to channel the energy into something that can deliver an epic rebound.