There is a phrase I like to use with my two-year old daughter: “You get what you get and you don’t get upset.” It is a great little song to sing when she wants a blue flosser, but we only have pink and green ones left. I wouldn’t use that phrase for things like income equality, but when it comes to things out of our control, like a tooth flosser or the weather, I’d like her to learn to remain composed.

This past October, there were several days that made it to 75 degrees. This was a phenomenon known as an “Indian Summer”. Now here we are five months later, and we are experiencing another climatic episode. I’m going to call it an “Indian Winter”. We have officially begun spring and are experiencing a snow storm – the second one this month. If complaining about the weather and posting pictures of your thermostat on social media had any effect on the weather, major storms would cease to exist and temperatures would remain moderate. Unfortunately, it is completely out of our control, and so we should all remain composed.

“His grandfather had often told him that he tried too hard to move trees when a wiser man would walk around them.” (Patricia Briggs, Hunting Ground)

There will always be a time when we try to move the tree because the mere thought of walking around it doesn’t occur to us. We are human. That tree may have sent us a nasty-gram, spread a lie about us, or supported a different agenda. That tree may have gotten us so worked up it didn’t deserve to stand there anymore. But the option to walk around it is always there.

There will always be something to get us worked up. Whether is it a demanding project, a blue flosser, or unfortunate weather, we need to get a grip and move on. Learn from the wiser man and don’t let things you cannot change stand in your way – just walk around them.