How to handle life’s interruptions

By the time this is published, the FIFA World Cup 2026 champion will have been decided and those of us that spent the last month watching mostly soccer will have returned to our regular daily lives and calendars.

Baseball’s All-Star break will be complete and regular games will be back on our schedules.

We often think about sports and different events that we’re interested in seeing or participating in. These events often become part of our life’s rhythm, part of our schedule.

We think about different events that “interrupt” our life’s rhythm: sick kids, a sick spouse, a trip to the vet for a loved animal, a car accident, etc. We often consider these events an interruption in our lives and schedules.

They are a surprise to us and we’re often called to find a way to fit them into our schedules. Events such as a world championship (of any sport, game or competition) seem to fit into our schedules a lot easier than if they were surprises. Why do you think that is?

Perhaps because such events are something that we want in our schedules. It’s something we look forward to and enjoy. Surprises do not always fall into the “want” category, which makes them yuckier to add to our calendar. They require more work to re-organize and start than a simple invitation to a basic luncheon.

We often consider surprises as an interruption to our schedules, something we must find room for in our daily routines. Sometimes it means we give up something we want to do so that we can do what’s needed. Most of us don’t enjoy doing that.

What if we don’t consider the surprises to be interruptions to our usual life? What if we consider them part of our normal rhythm?

Whether we want to work with possible rescheduling or not, perhaps if we consider them as part of our normal rhythm, we could breeze right through them.

What if these aren’t interruptions at all? What if they’re just part of our everyday rhythm? In having them as part of our regular rhythm, they are no longer surprises.

Do we consider miracles interruptions? Or do we consider them part of our regular rhythm? Wouldn’t we enjoy having miracles as a regular part of our lives?

Surprises may be an interruption to our schedule, that’s true. They happen and we get to manage the consequences. I think what there is to remember is that our schedule is not our life; it’s only part of it.

I’m hearing a few of you say, “What?!?”

Yes, we’re the ones who choose what to put in our schedules. Yes, sometimes it isn’t what we want in our schedule and yet, for whatever reason, we include it in our schedule. We can always say no.

We just want to consider the consequences of saying no before we make it official. Our schedule is part of our rhythm, part of our life; not the whole thing.

While we often fill our schedule with meetings, soccer games, football games, music lessons, etc., we often feel like we want more “fun” events on our calendar. When that happens, it’s time to book a few hours (or days) with events that we want to see and/or participate in. This is the fun part of our calendar!

So, the soccer world has quieted down and disappeared from our TVs and life’s rhythms and baseball’s All-Star game is complete.

I hope your teams do well in their competitions.

Deni Krauss is a transition and grief coach. She can be reached at deni@denikrausscoaching.com, facebook.com/DeniKrauss, linkedin.com or at (415) 516-3035.