The Art of Restraint

Restraint has several meanings, but commonly, it is defined as the act of holding something back.

Never one to restrain my competitiveness or need to accomplish things, I am beginning to learn that sometimes restraint may be worth consideration. When I don’t, there has been a good chance of regrets and injury.

For example, when I don’t restrain my appetite, I usually feel worse for wear afterwords. If I don’t restrain my need to win the point on the tennis court, I break bones.

I need to work on restraining my gardening activities. I am an impatient “belt and suspenders” gardener. I start with seeds but I also plant starts just to be certain there will be some success. The exception is radishes, which are truly foolproof.

One of my early plantings was carrots (seeds only). I waited for what seemed like a lifetime (only about two weeks) and nothing, so I planted more seeds. As I prepared the dirt to plant them, I noticed little green shoots peeking out. It looks like I will have a carrot jungle, and to keep things interesting, I planted varieties of yellow, black, orange, Parisienne, and Kubota seeds for a cacophony of carrots.

Due to numerous car and house repairs, a plethora of medical co-pays, and multiple deliveries of wine club spring releases, I have restrained from online shopping for the past few weeks. Wine vs. shopping, no contest; wine wins. It’s an excellent way to mitigate the pain of the house and car repairs.

There are other acts of restraint I have learned to practice lately. One was to stop cursing at my computer and printer. It may satisfy short-term frustration, but the bottom line is that it never solves the problem.

Spectrum recently updated our equipment, and my printer couldn’t find the new router. I tried, a computer-savvy friend tried, Daniel tried, a Staples printer salesman tried, and finally, I succumbed to the fact that I would need to buy a new printer. But luckily, I tried one last Hail Mary attempt. One of my tennis friends works in the IT Department at Whitman College. He came to my rescue, saved the day, and I am back online.

Successfully solving my printer problem should remind me to avoid cursing and getting frustrated; however, I doubt much of that restraint will be in my future. Maybe it just means I will need a higher dosage of blood pressure medication prescribed.

I must take a trip to the Tri-Cities for my iPad repair at Best Buy, fortuitously close to Costco. To Daniel’s dismay and my happiness, I will not restrain myself from buying my favorite Costco purchase, cheese.

Even with unexpected expenses, I can always find extra money for cheese. Though I can’t grow cheese, nor do I have (or want) a cow, I should save money from my garden’s bounty through winter, and I won’t have to restrain myself from buying even more cheese and maybe a little more wine.

Today, the icing on my “restraint cake” was an out-of-the-park tennis shot. I didn’t make the point, but my opponents said they admired my enthusiasm, which I’ll take as an endorsement for at least a little No Restraint!