Reality Check

#1

Emotions can fog our perception. The high degree of anticipation met with sharp disappointment produced the current environment of emotional turmoil.
Yes, everyone here is miffed, but our personal reaction is a choice. You can pull your hair out or you can shrug and and spare yourself the angst.

Point is, ifyou think this is the worst thing that could happen, you’re not seeing through the fog.
Got your health? Priceless. Food and essentials for yourself and family? Golden. Friends who care about you? A true treasure.
No laser for Christmas? OK, an ornament just fell off the tree.
Submerging ourselves in the emotion only serves to blind us to the big picture.

Give the situation perspective and see what could be missing in your life, instead of focusing on a single missing minor detail. Don’t allow disappointment to skew your perception of how fortunate you really are.
Take a few minutes to reflect on what you have to be thankful for. You will feel better for it, and the significance of the Glowforge in your life will be clearer.

Shake it off, and enjoy the holidays! :ribbon:

#2

Hear, hear!

#3

Speaking of holidays, we finally put the lights up:

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#4

There, that is what I’m talking about! A warm home filled with family.

Now that’s a brick house! Not veneer, double wall with lath and plaster.
"Did you hear that wind last night!?"
Umm… No.

#5

Haha! The finished attic is basically paper as far as I’m concerned with respect to noise but the rear bedroom is pretty great - can’t hear a lick of traffic!

This is our first home, just moved in last year, but I think we’ve done okay. :slight_smile:

#6

Yeah, the popped top comes from a different universe.
Very similar to our first house, built 1911. Solid pile of brick. Lived in it for 17 years - with 25 amp service. Took creative scheduling and a lot of fuses. :grimacing:

#7

Yes! Ours was built in 1900, so basically the same thing as you. Fortunately, it’s already had the service done - 100 amp, so might have to upgrade at some point next year if/when we get the workshop built, but that’s much easier than replacing a whole fuse box!

#8

when it comes down to it me and my girlfriend have a expression that I’m sure people have heard.

‘first world problem’ its a tongue in cheek comment used when we complain about things that really don’t matter to life/health/happiness.

take a second and take some perspective

#9

Couldn’t help myself:

#10

Thank you Da–er @printolaser. Very well said. You are a forum treasure. However the emotion for many comes from the fact that several thousand dollars was hard to come by and they are wondering now if they threw it away. For me, I don’t miss it now at all, and it is like an ornament fell off the tree (as you said). You, in another forum post, said something similar about not missing the money now after all this time. Some people aren’t like that and are pretty emotional about it, as we’ve seen on the forum the last day or so. Go :glowforge: - Rich

#11

#12

lol, ool @PlGHEADED :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: - but maybe you should’t show this to @Jules, just out of decency :stuck_out_tongue:

#13

This deserves the lyrics being posted:

“First World Problems”

[Verse 1:]
My maid is cleaning my bathroom, so I can’t take a shower
When I do, the water starts getting cold after an hour
I couldn’t order off the breakfast menu, cause I slept in till two
Then I filled up on bread, didn’t leave any room for tiramisu
Oh no, there’s a pixel out in the corner of my laptop screen
I don’t have any bills in my wallet small enough for the vending machine
Some idiot just called me up on the phone, what!? Don’t they know how to text? OMG!
I got

[Chorus:]
First world, first world problems
(First world problems)
First world, first world problems
(First world problems)
First world, first world problems

[Verse 2:]
I bought too many groceries for my refrigerator
Forgot my gardener’s name, I’ll have to ask him later
Tried to fast forward commercials, can’t - I’m watching live T.V
I’m pretty sure the cookies in this airport lounge ain’t gluten free
My barista didn’t even bother to make a design in the foam on the top of my vanilla latte

[Chorus]

[Verse 3:]
Can’t remember which car I drove to the mall
My Sonicare won’t recharge, now I gotta brush my teeth like a neanderathal
The thread count on these cotton sheets has got me itching
My house is so big, I can’t get WiFi in the kitchen
Uh, I had to buy something I didn’t even need just
so I could qualify for free shipping on Amazon

[Chorus x2]

#14

Me too! I don’t get carried away with it. Pretty minimalist.

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#15

WHY WOULD YOU DO SUCH A THING!??? :astonished:

#16

LOL…yes of course reaction is a choice, and putting it in perspective always helps. For the people that have waited a year and that a GF is a lot of money to them, it was really a shock since Dan has been chanting on the forum for a very long time Dec 31st…Dec 31st…etc. It really was a total shock for many. I empathize with them and hope they hang on and put things in perspective (like your original post here). Go :glowforge: - Rich

I laughed at the hedgehog (sorry @Jules), the text was for @printolaser. :slight_smile:

#17

Love it! Hard to go wrong with the Grinch and little Cindy Lou Who. :wink:

#18

Bravo… My wife came back from Standing Rock, and hearing about that puts everything in perspective…

#19

Sometimes it takes a major loss to give us that perspective. I frequently have to remind myself to look further than my navel. :nerd:

#20

Thanks for this. I was trying to figure out how to say this without sounding holier-than-thou, and every draft sounded angrier than the last. :smirk: I’m so glad you wrote this; it definitely needed to be said.