Blog Dis
DO NOT PANIC!!!!
2025-06-12
Words to live by: Do not panic. Perhaps these are the most important words to remember or at least to burn in your mind as you sort out your daily life.
"Do not panic," I tell myself all the time. Last week, however, I was convinced that my hard-drive at home was near to crashing because it was making some very strange sounds, like it was on its last legs. I dialogued with a technician online who advised me not to do too much, other than to run a C:/ defragmentation, and that ultimately I'd need to replace the hard-drive, given the age of my tower, and how this was strongly advised before the entire system crashed. Did I panic? Of course I panicked. I've been in research mode ever since, pricing out a complete system upgrade.
A crashing hard-drive isn't necessarily something to panic over, unless you're speaking of your personal or work files and software that are integral to carrying out your role, or as you continue to write your eighth novel, like me. We have the cloud for storing our files, which I absolutely detest. But when using a laptop, many files are saved direct to your Desktop, while being finalized and these will eventually be saved to a server. It's not practical to save direct to a server when saving as you go means burrowing deep down multiple levels. And, with complex Power Point decks you can either create a SharePoint site and make changes in real time, tho' this too has limitations, as changes are not aligned with the document format vs the original when it's opened in its Desktop version.
Does all the aforementioned sound too unnecessarily complicated? Why yes of course it is, like everything, more so when it comes to applications and software, and the never-ending options. It's all so very annoying and challenging to keep up with best practices, to learn new systems, to become a subject matter expert in a technological world where everything changes at a fast rate. There are options like SharePoint sites, OneDrive, different servers, external hard-drives, USB sticks, and let's not forget MS TEAMS site workspaces, utilized in different ways by companies, and all are dependent on the viability of your computer, its software, and its operating platform within the hardware itself.
And then there is human nature, and our proclivity to panic when things don't run smoothly.
It's not my nature to reach for the panic button, unless my heart begins to palpitate wildly, and I'm convinced that the last chapter I completed is lost, and despite attempting to recover the last saved copy of my draft manuscript, sometimes... just sometimes the precious work you've spent weeks fine-tuning is lost forever. This is when I panic. So even though I tell myself that it's not in my nature to panic, when I do panic, I'm convinced it's for a valid reason.
There was that time I had an appointment with a top dermatologist, working at an area hospital where his practice was located. He took one look at the area in question on my forehead and pronounced, "It's deeply embedded cancer and you need surgery immediately!" Then he walked out of his examination room, leaving me feeling stupefied and scared, went to the office next door to confer with a plastic surgeon, and returned minutes later to advise that I was scheduled for surgery in two weeks. I panicked! Sweet Jesus!
I left the dermatologist's office in a confused state, waiting outside the hospital's reception door for a taxi. When a friend began speaking to me, having spotted me waiting, I must have dialogued with him, though I've no memory of speaking to him. He eventually reached out to one of my siblings to ask what was wrong with me, citing that I looked panic-stricken.
There are levels to panic. Level one is the first stage of panic, a realization that your state of being is under attack and it's unnerving. Level two is panic-stricken, where you can't think straight, nor dialogue without your focus returning to the very reason why you're panic stricken. Level three is an escalation stage where panic begins and quickly turns into hardened cement, the way a Mom or Dad must feel when they let go of their child's hand, turn their backs for barely three seconds, and when they turn around, their child is gone, only minutes later for the parents to see their child standing calmly in another spot. In my particular skin cancer situation, as it turned out, the cancer was indeed serious, life-threatening, and after a 4.5 hour operation, a huge hole was excavated in my forehead that took nearly a year to fully heal, and subsequent follow-up visits for 20 years. The surgeon performed a skin-graft from my leg to my forehead so that now when I scratch this area on my forehead, I can feel it tingle on my thigh! 😅
There are, as to be expected, loads of reasons why you could panic but not necessarily viable reasons why you should or even want to, such as arriving into New Delhi airport at 4:00 AM and realizing that you're the only white woman in the entire place, with all eyes watching your every move. I should've panicked but I didn't. I had consumed far too many drinky-poos on the plane, to give myself liquid courage, and before disembarking, it was then that I realized I had to get to the hotel without panicking along the way.
Another valid reason to panic is wild, indiscriminate sex, during which the condoms breaks, and weeks later your period is late, and then it stays late for three months. I guarantee you that you'll panic when you urinate on a pregnancy stick — panic will fire up your brain as you dread the plus sign to emerge, all the while chastising yourself for being so careless. And then that sigh of relief when the minus sign emerges. Whew! That was a close one.
There is danger and there is real danger, like being swept away by a tidal wave, or being caught in a tornado with no place to hide, or running from a fire in a forest that is scorching. All these potential disasters are 💯% viable. You should panic. But when we needlessly panic, you alter your perception of events, often making them bigger and scarier. I've come close several times to losing entire manuscripts, owing to hard-drive hiccups. The thought of losing one to two years' worth of hard work makes my forehead break out into a sweat.
As the years have rolled on by, I panic less now, which could mean that I have no heartbeat, no pulse or zero worries for the outcome, or it could very well mean that what I've already experienced in my life has dulled my senses to panic. So, whenever I feel myself about to panic, I touch the impressive scar I shall always carry on my forehead and remind myself that I really have nothing to panic about at all... at least for the time being.
Surely, something will come along that will challenge your state of grace. It'll be up to you to rationalize the situation into a viable perspective that best suits your temperament, rather than panic.
Wish me luck and Ill do the same for you. 🍀🍀🍀
"Do not panic," I tell myself all the time. Last week, however, I was convinced that my hard-drive at home was near to crashing because it was making some very strange sounds, like it was on its last legs. I dialogued with a technician online who advised me not to do too much, other than to run a C:/ defragmentation, and that ultimately I'd need to replace the hard-drive, given the age of my tower, and how this was strongly advised before the entire system crashed. Did I panic? Of course I panicked. I've been in research mode ever since, pricing out a complete system upgrade.
A crashing hard-drive isn't necessarily something to panic over, unless you're speaking of your personal or work files and software that are integral to carrying out your role, or as you continue to write your eighth novel, like me. We have the cloud for storing our files, which I absolutely detest. But when using a laptop, many files are saved direct to your Desktop, while being finalized and these will eventually be saved to a server. It's not practical to save direct to a server when saving as you go means burrowing deep down multiple levels. And, with complex Power Point decks you can either create a SharePoint site and make changes in real time, tho' this too has limitations, as changes are not aligned with the document format vs the original when it's opened in its Desktop version.
Does all the aforementioned sound too unnecessarily complicated? Why yes of course it is, like everything, more so when it comes to applications and software, and the never-ending options. It's all so very annoying and challenging to keep up with best practices, to learn new systems, to become a subject matter expert in a technological world where everything changes at a fast rate. There are options like SharePoint sites, OneDrive, different servers, external hard-drives, USB sticks, and let's not forget MS TEAMS site workspaces, utilized in different ways by companies, and all are dependent on the viability of your computer, its software, and its operating platform within the hardware itself.
And then there is human nature, and our proclivity to panic when things don't run smoothly.
It's not my nature to reach for the panic button, unless my heart begins to palpitate wildly, and I'm convinced that the last chapter I completed is lost, and despite attempting to recover the last saved copy of my draft manuscript, sometimes... just sometimes the precious work you've spent weeks fine-tuning is lost forever. This is when I panic. So even though I tell myself that it's not in my nature to panic, when I do panic, I'm convinced it's for a valid reason.
There was that time I had an appointment with a top dermatologist, working at an area hospital where his practice was located. He took one look at the area in question on my forehead and pronounced, "It's deeply embedded cancer and you need surgery immediately!" Then he walked out of his examination room, leaving me feeling stupefied and scared, went to the office next door to confer with a plastic surgeon, and returned minutes later to advise that I was scheduled for surgery in two weeks. I panicked! Sweet Jesus!
I left the dermatologist's office in a confused state, waiting outside the hospital's reception door for a taxi. When a friend began speaking to me, having spotted me waiting, I must have dialogued with him, though I've no memory of speaking to him. He eventually reached out to one of my siblings to ask what was wrong with me, citing that I looked panic-stricken.
There are levels to panic. Level one is the first stage of panic, a realization that your state of being is under attack and it's unnerving. Level two is panic-stricken, where you can't think straight, nor dialogue without your focus returning to the very reason why you're panic stricken. Level three is an escalation stage where panic begins and quickly turns into hardened cement, the way a Mom or Dad must feel when they let go of their child's hand, turn their backs for barely three seconds, and when they turn around, their child is gone, only minutes later for the parents to see their child standing calmly in another spot. In my particular skin cancer situation, as it turned out, the cancer was indeed serious, life-threatening, and after a 4.5 hour operation, a huge hole was excavated in my forehead that took nearly a year to fully heal, and subsequent follow-up visits for 20 years. The surgeon performed a skin-graft from my leg to my forehead so that now when I scratch this area on my forehead, I can feel it tingle on my thigh! 😅
There are, as to be expected, loads of reasons why you could panic but not necessarily viable reasons why you should or even want to, such as arriving into New Delhi airport at 4:00 AM and realizing that you're the only white woman in the entire place, with all eyes watching your every move. I should've panicked but I didn't. I had consumed far too many drinky-poos on the plane, to give myself liquid courage, and before disembarking, it was then that I realized I had to get to the hotel without panicking along the way.
Another valid reason to panic is wild, indiscriminate sex, during which the condoms breaks, and weeks later your period is late, and then it stays late for three months. I guarantee you that you'll panic when you urinate on a pregnancy stick — panic will fire up your brain as you dread the plus sign to emerge, all the while chastising yourself for being so careless. And then that sigh of relief when the minus sign emerges. Whew! That was a close one.
There is danger and there is real danger, like being swept away by a tidal wave, or being caught in a tornado with no place to hide, or running from a fire in a forest that is scorching. All these potential disasters are 💯% viable. You should panic. But when we needlessly panic, you alter your perception of events, often making them bigger and scarier. I've come close several times to losing entire manuscripts, owing to hard-drive hiccups. The thought of losing one to two years' worth of hard work makes my forehead break out into a sweat.
As the years have rolled on by, I panic less now, which could mean that I have no heartbeat, no pulse or zero worries for the outcome, or it could very well mean that what I've already experienced in my life has dulled my senses to panic. So, whenever I feel myself about to panic, I touch the impressive scar I shall always carry on my forehead and remind myself that I really have nothing to panic about at all... at least for the time being.
Surely, something will come along that will challenge your state of grace. It'll be up to you to rationalize the situation into a viable perspective that best suits your temperament, rather than panic.
Wish me luck and Ill do the same for you. 🍀🍀🍀
