Bandwidth

How much energy should I put into a problem? How much is my time worth?

Sky are my internet provider. They’ve been ok aside from some quirks when I switched over (top tip: Sky routers really don’t like it when you change the SSID) but occasionally I get a little drop out here and there.

I’ve tried changing the broadcast channel but that hasn’t really seemed to help so I end up rebooting the router from time to time, probably not even once a month. Rebotting isn’t a permanent solution but as I live in a block of flats and I can see up to 20 different WIFI networks, it’s probably about as good a solution as I’ll get.

I did spend some time looking for a more permanent solution, tried a few things , but very quickly realised anything further than ‘turn it off and back on again’ would be both more complicated and time consuming, so I stopped looking.

I realise now that I’ve been slowly taking the same approach with my emotional energy. I accept that I have a limited bandwidth and that that bandwidth changes from week to week. Some weeks I can handle anything the world wants to throw at me, others I’d much rather hole up on my sofa and binge watch TV.

That means that my interactions with people outside of my nearest and dearest may change week to week. If I’m honest it probably changes hour to hour at times and my Twitter usage is probably a good indicator, lots of tweets equals spare emotional energy, fewer (or no) tweets means I’m preserving what I have for the people I love.

I think I’ve been doing this for a while now without even realising it so it’s good to be able to step back and realise that I’m managing my moods better and spending my energies in the ‘right’ places.