I Lost My Phone

I lost my phone. Well, sort of.

O.K., I didn’t.  But I thought I did.

My husband and I were in Ohiopyle for a weekend of biking and hiking. Some (rather important!) mechanism on his bike broke after only 3 miles on the trail. And, what good is my bike when his bike is broken and we’re out for a weekend together?  So, we secured them to the bike rack on the car and headed out for a hike.

In preparation, we added some things to the backpack such as water, snacks, and a headband for me.  And I put my phone in there, too. 

As we began heading for the trail, deep in conversation as we usually are, I reached for my phone to see what time it was.  Except I reached in my pocket where it had been all morning. Five minutes away from the car I exclaimed in a panic, “Where’s my phone?”

My husband’s facial expression told me, “I don’t know.”  In his defense, he didn’t see me put it in the backpack.  As we walked back to the car, panic thoughts of “Where did I leave it… in the restroom… at the restaurant… did I drop it… oh please let it be in the car” tumbled repeatedly through my mind.

When we got to the car, my husband grabbed his phone and called mine. As soon as we heard the ring we knew.  Proverbially slapping my forehead and dropping my head with an “I can’t believe I did that” sigh, I looked at him and said, “I put it in the backpack, didn’t I.”

As long as I was focused on my fear and panic of, “I lost my phone,” I couldn’t be focused on what I had done not five minutes earlier, i.e., put it in the backpack.

When we allow our thoughts to be perpetually focused on our fears, then by default, we can’t focus on what we want to do, whether it’s finding our phone, building a business relationship, or having a difficult conversation with someone.

Our mind will only focus on one thing at a time. We can let it be our fears. Or we can pause, take a breath, and choose to focus on taking the steps that will bring our greatest benefit.

Fortunately, my husband remained calm and realized he could call my phone as soon as he retrieved his from the car.  Something else that hadn’t even crossed my mind.

Because, this time, I let fear fill the one place I could have chosen to let calm, problem solving exist instead.

My mind.