I am trying to get an appointment scheduled for my husband to have the Covid vaccination and it has become a much more difficult prospect than I thought it would be. I signed him up for one list only to learn that he is one of about 20,000 waiting there and the vaccines are being routed through a different process. So, then I went to the new process and again found that I was competing on-line with about 50,000 others for 3000 appointments. It was a very frustrating experience that triggered my anger and colored much of the rest of our day.

The difficulty is that he needs this shot. The challenge for me is that he cannot deal with the scheduling process himself and I must do it. But I have to find a way to get through without the anger and frustration that accompanied my last attempt. I am not sure what that will look like.

There are always going to be things that happen during my day that trigger negative emotional responses. If I am going to stay calm, I need to recognize and avoid as many of these things as possible. Then, by controlling my reactions to those triggers I can’t avoid, I can focus on positive actions that will lead to a good resolution. Sometimes, as in the case I mentioned above, my reaction needs to be to set it aside and try again another time. I will call it done for now and put it away so I can move on.