It's No Big Deal

My daughter’s mother has a phrase she uses with my daughter all the time when things aren’t going right: it’s no big deal. I tend to internalize that message for myself when I run into problems that are out of my control. A reminder for myself that it’s not the end of the world, no one has died, I’m still alive, etc.

Every now and then, I come across something that isn’t a big deal, but it’s still a constant pest in my life. The latest example was a cupboard door not closing properly, rubbing against its neighbour. It still closed fine, I only had to be a little more careful with it. This went on for a few weeks and I took it as it was until I had a moment to consider why it was happening: a few screws were loose causing the hinge to slip out of place.

Tightening them up resolved the issue within twenty seconds. I felt rather foolish afterwards. While I was content to let things be and not make a stink about it, I should have taken a moment to consider the issue and see if I could resolve it.

I took it as a reminder that sometimes an issue that’s “no big deal” can be resolved easily and doesn’t have to be a “no big deal” item. There is a distinction between something that is out of my control and something that is very well within my control if I take the time to look into it. It’s okay to consider something as not important and go with the flow as long as it’s not possible for me to fix it directly.

There is no sense in letting something become a nuisance in my life if all it takes is thirty seconds and a screwdriver to fix.