There will always be something in life that’s outside of our control. This can be maddening, as you might find yourself helpless, thrown about by the whims of forces outside of yourself. How can you keep from losing your cool or becoming overbearing when things aren’t unfolding the way you like? Well, here are a few tips for watching someone navigate a TV menu even though they’re doing it differently than you would, and therefore, doing it wrong.
Take deep breaths.
The first step to keeping cool in a situation as harrowing as this is focusing on your bodily reaction. If your dad is searching for a Netflix show by flipping through the browsing sections instead of just typing it in on the fucking search bar, this might send your nervous system into a heightened state. Try focusing on your breathing, which will doubly serve as a distraction from your dad going, “Huh, I wonder where it is!”
Close your eyes.
What you can’t see can’t hurt you! So if you find yourself yelling, “NO, GOD, YOU MISSED IT” when your dad inevitably finds the search bar, starts typing in “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol,” but goes right past the “m” on the little alphabet pad, tap out and close your eyes. Definitely close them once he starts toggling to the capitalized menu to make sure he capitalizes every first letter, even though that literally does not make a difference and takes 1 minute each time.
Try to focus on reacting with grace, calm, and a full heart.
Not everyone knows how to do everything correctly! In fact, our differences are what make us human. Maybe your dad choosing to include the colon in ““Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol” for no fucking reason at all is actually just an idiosyncrasy that is one part of the greater map of specificities that make him uniq– nope, he passed it and hit “Clear All.”
Grab the remote out of his fucking hands.
On second thought, he’s doing it wrong and will definitely thank you for this later. Feel free to wrench the remote from his unsuspecting hands, shove him aside (hard), and get to navigating the TV menu the way it’s supposed to be navigated. He’ll be glad you did! Probably.
Follow these quick and easy steps and you’ll be able to watch someone use the remote differently than you would in no time! As long as they’re still doing right, of course. Actually, as long as they’re doing it exactly the way you would.
