So how do we apply all of these principles in our lives? So they become a way of life? How do we, how do we integrate them? Well, I want to tell you a story about something that happened to me last week. It wasn't a huge problem, but it was incredibly frustrating. And a bit of a challenge to me and I want to tell you my story, and then I want to share with you how I work to apply these principles during this period of time.
Now, what I share with you is fairly mundane, but often is the hardest to apply these things in the more mundane circumstances because we're not even aware of the stress that's going through us. If it's a loss of someone or a breakup or A financial collapse or a physical problem of some type, then we're really aware that we're in stress that we have a challenge. And we tend to deal with it a little bit more deliberately. But I want to talk about my circumstance. And here's my circumstance. I simply had to go to our DMV, our Department of Motor Vehicles to update renew my driving license, and I thought, well, no, no big problem.
That's something you have to do periodically and I had to do it and I had to take a written test because I was turning a certain age and so I showed up actually about a half an hour early before the doors even open because I knew this was a pretty busy place. And when I got there, there was this huge line and I thought, Oh man, I got a lot to do today. This is gonna take a while. And it actually took me over an hour to get to the door inside the door. This this line was outside So once I got to the door, I looked around and there are all these turnstiles where people are going back and forth like they do when they're trying to turn a line into something that's orderly, no place to sit. And so it took two and a half hours to go through all of that to get to the first spot or desk, were actually got a ticket where I needed to fill out some things ahead of time.
And then I had to go into another line to be able to come back to that place and have them accept this and that I had to do that twice. And about another hour later, I was able to sit down, which I did again for about an hour in order for my ticket number to be called and I finally went to the window to actually work in the renewal and now I'm about four and a half hours into This, and I had to take an eye test, I was so exhausted, I was so dehydrated from standing up for about three and a half to four hours first. And then from just sitting there and, and having all these other things in my mind that my eyes were working all that well, I didn't have my eye drops with me that I normally have. And so I had a hard time passing the eye test, but I was able to pass it.
And then I had to go to another place to take the written test, which was pretty tough. And I, I took that, and I pass that and then I realized I had to take a second written tests, all done online in booths, because I had a motorcycle qualification or license. And they said take it and so I took that and I actually flunked out twice. You can do it three times. And then the third time I did pass it. So I got my motorcycle qualification and I finally got out of it.
About six hours and 20 minutes after I started, so it took me an entire day to renew my license. Now look at I have a lot of friends from around the world and you live with that kind of thing on an ongoing basis. But everything going on there, all of that process was incredibly stressful to me. And I was trying to work through dealing with stress in my head because I saw my, you know, frustration growing and growing, the longer and longer I waited. And so here's what I tried to apply. I thought through my six areas of my responses, so I thought first, I better be affirming myself and I concluded that hey, Ron, you know, look at this isn't personal.
This is an attack on you. Look at your, you're also you know, you're a very valuable person. So don't take this personally. But also you're gonna have an opportunity to grow and develop while you're here. So use this to start Switch on your brain and think about some things that are important. And then I balance that out by saying, hey, Ron, your your bug that you can't get right through there.
Do you understand how privileged you are on how, how you don't have to wait in lines normally, and how much of the world has to wait in lines like this, and though you're special, and you're unique and greatly valued, you've got soft spots, and frankly, being spoiled here is one of those. So that helped me. And I had to think about that a few times. And I thought about life and by thanking and I just stopped and say, Hey, instead of grousing about this I'm not gonna complain, I can't control this, but I can be thankful. So I chose to be thankful for the people around me and for the service. The service was really good by the way, the people were very gracious and kind and helpful.
And I was thankful for that and thankful for the people around me that I could talk to and interact with a bit. And then thirdly, I thought about this as a real problem, an irritation a challenge. It was fresh. strating and I said, Wait a second, I'm going to embrace it. I'm not going to as Why is this happening to me? I'm going to say, what can I do about this?
What can I focus on in myself and so I use it for a time for study. I did some reading. I did some watching a couple of videos just to not think about anything, but I did some things that would allow me to, to embrace the opportunity and not complain and grace about it. And then related to people, I said, I need to be building people up. So though I wanted to be frustrated with the people I met, who service me, I said, that's not going to help them out. And in fact, what I did is actually complimented several of them because they deserved it.
And I wanted to, I said, You know, I can't believe how patient you are. And one woman said, I can't believe how patient you all are. And I said this is a tough job you you've been very gracious and kind and helpful. I've been watching you and that's impressive, and she appreciated that I think that made her day. I had the same experience with another gentleman. Down the road on that.
And then I tried to be kind and helpful and, and not griping and grousing to the people around me then I had the opportunity to think through what about my time, man, this is a time busy, busy and I thought, Well, wait a second. I'm thinking cron Chronos time. I can't control that. So I'm gonna deal with that. So what are the moments I could buy up here? So I spent a little time thinking I, you know, again, I reflected and meditated on some thoughts and, and I prayed a bit.
And I tried to have a joyful heart, singing some songs in my heart, not out loud and want to scare people off, but I use the opportunity to buy that Kairos time buy up the opportunity. And then finally, toward my inner life getting centered, I said, Hey, I'm not gonna get all flustered and frustrated and just blow up. I want to be centered. I'm going to cultivate my center here by meditating and by trying to have some balance in my life. I use the opportunity to think about my life and, and be at peace at my heart and have joy in my heart and, and try to fill it up with hope and love not with frustration and anger and said, I and and being a man of faith, I prayed. Because I, I've opted to put God at the center of my life and I said, Lord, just make me a gracious, kind, loving person.
Let me see this as an opportunity, not an obstacle. And I'll thank you for that. So, you see, you see how you can integrate all of those together. And frankly, whenever you're facing a stress, you might just bring out one or two of these six arrows, but I would think about integrating all them at the same time like I just did. So here's here's your action step for this particular lesson. I want you to think about an issue right now that you are grappling with a stressful like mine.
It could be small like mine, or it could be something big and significant. But whatever it is, think about it and right out how you can apply each one of these principles. In this particular area. You're going to see a sheet in our resource center that allow you to take the area, take the action and write down how you can behave because you're going to try to turn this into a habit going forward, but work to integrate all six of these. You got it. Okay.
Get to work.