Keep Calm and Drink Coffee

So, back in September of this year one of the major pipelines in Alabama sprung a leak. My (Frankie) husband works in Alabama and we live in Tennessee. We heard about the leak and were just a little concerned, but went about our daily routines like normal, trusting they would fix it and everything would be okay. But, everything wasn't okay and it had nothing to do with a leaky pipeline, and everything to do with people overreacting.

My husband had to call out of work for two days that week because even though our state reps told everyone to just be calm and keep to their normal gas buying routines, people didn't do that. It was like the rush for milk and bread when a snowstorm has been predicted. Within hours all the gas stations in our town in Tennessee were completely sold out of gas and because the pipeline was shut down, we wouldn't be getting any in for a few days. Wow, people, just wow.

It took almost 2 weeks to get gas back to all the stations and when we did get gas the prices were crazy high. We did this. We created a shortage and then we enabled price gouging because we freaked out over nothing. If we would have just stayed calm, everything would have been fine.

I've thought about this a lot since it happened. I'm that person. I didn't freak out over the pipeline leak, but I do tend to overreact to things in general, especially the things that have to do with my family or business. Every small setback feels like a disaster to me. Every small leak looks like a dream ender. And, this just isn't acceptable behavior. This isn't how a responsible wife, mother, and business owner should react.
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Our pipeline leak taught me that I was, to some extent, just as bad as all the people who overreacted and bought up all the gas. I was just overreacting to different circumstances. I've since come to realize that not every bad thing that happens is the end of the world, or my family, or my business. All freaking out does is make things exponentially worse. If I (we) don't overreact, everything will usually work itself out and be just fine.

I've learned to keep calm and drink coffee. I hope you can do that too… and don't buy up all the gas!