This is less a crafting tutorial and more of a life tutorial.

 

A while ago, I broke my favorite mug. I had brought it to work with me, because I was too lazy to find my travel mug before getting in the car. By the time I got home, I was cranky, exhausted, and not paying attention. As I fumbled with the ten things I was carrying to get my keys out, my favorite mug slipped out of my bag and fell to the concrete floor of my garage. It broke into three pieces.

 

This did not help my mood. I put it on the counter, too tired to worry about it.

 

In life, there are tons of things that go wrong. Every day, something goes wrong. We can’t control that; we can’t avoid it, but we can control how we respond to it. I’ve been reading a lot of books lately that all focus on the same message- Don’t worry about it; it’s not that big of a deal.

 

From Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff and Little Ways to Keep Calm and Carry On to How to Not Give a F-ck in Ten Easy Steps, all these books pretty much have the same lesson. Only we can control how we react to stressors. We have to figure out what is worth worrying about and what isn’t. Fight or flight can be a great survival response when you’re being chased by a lion or some other danger, but it isn’t helpful when overgeneralized to all of those little stressors like forgetting coconut milk at the store or breaking a beloved mug. All that extra adrenaline isn’t helping you out in those situations. It doesn’t pay to stress about it. You just have to breath, stay calm, and think it through. Is it worth the effort or can you just move on?

 

Long story short, I decided that the mug wasn’t worth worrying about. Yes, I was disappointed that I was careless enough to break it. It was my favorite mug and now I couldn’t drink out of it anymore. But I knew that at the end of the day, it wasn’t a big deal and I shouldn’t let it get to me. I had other mugs. It wasn’t the end of the world.

 

By not freaking out, I was even able to think of a solution. With some super glue and painter’s tape, I was able to fix the mug and repurpose it.

 

1. Apply super glue to broken pieces and put back together. Hold in place with painter’s tape.

 

2. Allow ample time for glue to dry. Then remove painter’s tape.

 

3. Change your perspective. It’s easier to find a solution to a problem when you aren’t stressing yourself out about the little things. Stay calm, relax, and enjoy your life. It’s too short to worry about all those little things.