Today's good Life project riff is called the tyranny of always.
So how often have you found yourself bundling a negative expectation with the word always?
If you're like most people, me included, hits probably far more often than you notice.
I'm actually just back from a quick trip that took me from New York City to San Francisco to Portland and then back to New York.
And as I was getting on that first plane, I actually caught myself thinking, I always get headaches when I fly.
But this time I stopped myself, because that's not entirely true.
And then I kind of rebutted and reframed the statement.
The truth is, while I often do get headaches when I fly, I don't always get headaches when I fly.
And to the extent that I do, it's likely far more under my control than I consider.
It's usually because I haven't slept well the night before, or I allow myself to get hungry and dehydrated on a plane.
And then I spend a solid chunk of the flight craned over in this horrible posture, staring at a computer screen with the muscles of the back of my neck and my head and my eyes straining.
So this time I literally, consciously changed the sentence.
And I said to myself, you know what?
Just stop.
That.
I don't always get headaches when I fly.
And to the extent that I do, a good percentage of those are likely self inflicted.
Then when I got on the plane, I spent less time on my computer.
When I did, I used my fancy pants new glasses to give my eyes a break and to lessen the need to strain and lean forward and look down.
I put my computer on the tray rather than on the lap so it was higher up.