About half an hour ago, when I was ready to watch a movie, I ran out of electricity. All my lights and machines - including my fridge - switched off, and I am now left with 57% of phone battery and I guess about an hour of laptop time.
It's 7:38 PM and it kind of feels like midnight, as the sun sets around 5 PM these days and my only light sources are now the glare of my laptop monitor, a flashlight called 'Waka Waka', a tiny candle at my right and - if I bend over and look at the right - the little bit of glare ( made by some flames ), visible through the darkened glass window of my wood burner.
All is well...
I don't panic in these kind of situations.
I don't even curse.
For your information, I hardly ever curse, I am a friendly dino.
This is the second time that I have run out of battery power ( in the last 4 days ).
The last time, 4 days ago, it also happened around 7 PM.
That day I was chilling with Vin Diesel. Tonight I am home alone.
At least I don't have to disappoint a guest/ friend this time.
Now I could talk about this house's solar system, that clearly isn't sufficient on days like this ( with few sun hours, clouds and or rain ) or about prioritizing the aggregate to be repaired. It was damaged by the people who rented the house before me. If you scroll down half a year ( in my feed ), you can read the juicy story about the state that I found this place in, when I moved in, at the start of May.
I want to focus on the positives here though.
In all honesty, I can't help but feel that the Universe is sometimes telling us to take a break, to stop staring at screens, to be in the now ( at least it's telling me this quite often ).
Or, to talk a little less 'woo-woo', everything is a matter of perspective...
Now I could be frustrated, but why would I?
I have a wood burner warming my house and my body. A kettle of tea is heating up on my gas stove, right now. I am seriously enjoying the contrast of being alone at my house, tonight, after a series of intense days with a lot of company.
Yes, I do like people, but I am also the type of person who charges themself by being alone.
Even though my machines might not be charging right now: my laptop has 59% of battery life left and my phone is - surprisingly - still at 57%.
I trust that the latter will last me till tomorrow ( when I expect my solar system to be up and running again, as was the case last time this happened ) and that the former will at least enable me to finish and publish this post, before it runs out.
My Waka Waka flash light will easily give me an hour or two, to read a book - if I feel like it, later tonight.
My tea is cooking right now. BRB!
I just poured myself a cup of hot tea and burnt my hand a little on the metal handle.
Suffice to say, that I have become pretty patient in the last couple of years, and - I guess - mindful about whatever happens around me, going with the flow, whenever I can.
This approach to life makes a huge difference.
What about you? How do you think you would cope in a situation like this? I am especially curious to hear from the 'First World' people among you, the spoilt ones.
In case you didn't know, I am a Dutch dino, living in Portugal since 2018. Stuff like this hardly ever happened to me before, in The Netherlands, where a power outage seldomly occured.
P.S. While writing this, I had to think of / was inspired a little by 's latest post: Resting and Leaning into the Cold Winter Season. While my message isn't entirely the same, I can see the parallels. Rest - like sleep - is underrated and sometimes we need to be reminded of that in unexpected ways. I will take this as a lesson and make the best of the situation :<)