Every so often I have a conversation with someone – a friend, acquaintance, whatever, that leaves me feeling somewhat like “what just happened there”. Usually it is because of my own poor conversational skills. Either being way too self-absorbed, or just plain old negative, and who wants to listen to that?

A few days ago I watched the second Bridget Jones instalment “The Edge of Reason”. At one point she finds herself in a Thai prison surrounded by a prison cell full of female prisoners. The conversation inevitably turned to the subject of partners and their personal experiences. Being beaten, abused etc. She tried to add to the conversation, but her own ex-partner’s failings fell a bit short. He folds his underwear before he goes to sleep. Well, she couldn’t finish her sentence because she realized how lame it sounded. She needed the terrible circumstances of those around her to see things in perspective.

This morning I shared my anxiety over some aspect of my life. My friend said to me, in nine years of being in Sydney, this has not happened to you as yet. True, it hasn’t. She offered the following advice. Today you do not have to solve anything. Just enjoy your circumstances as they are, and if at some point they change for the worst, then  you have reached the time to deal with it.