I have said for years that just because the phone rings does not mean you have to answer it. My best friend and I spent our 1st summer after high school working as telemarketers for Arbitron.  That short job forever ruined the telephone for me.

I don’t know exactly when it was I stopped rushing to the phone each time it rang, but I do know that it was after that summer job. You see, I realized at some point, that the world was not going to come to an end if I didn’t answer a ringing phone. The telephone police were not going to come to my door and scold me for not taking that call. I had an answering machine and caller ID, yet there was always this automatic RUSH to the phone when it rang.  Whether I was just walking out the door, in the shower, or if I were preparing raw meat, I felt this urgent need to stop everything and answer the phone, which usually ended up being, you guessed it…a telemarketer.

And apparently, I am not the only one who suffered from this mad dash to the phone behavior. I’ve been completely amazed over the years at what happens when the phone rings in someone’s house or even in my own.  The lengths that people will go to take that call. I should post a video of my husband racing through the house to answer his cell phone.  It’s quite comical.  What’s even more amazing is the reactions I get from visitors when I don’t answer my phone.  Some folks have been completely flabbergasted that I let the call go.

Now, of course, it is very different if you are expecting a call, but what I am talking about are those times when you are in the middle of something and the call can wait.  This simple little idea took me some time to get used to, but eventually I came to accept that not every call is an emergency.  And even if it was…what am I going to be able to do about it if I am standing in the shower with shampoo in my hair?  Certainly not anything in the next 30 minutes. This was a fantastic lesson in being present and putting yourself 1st.  No, no, no, I am not talking about being selfish and ignoring other people’s needs.  I am talking about being fully in the moment and allowing yourself to take care of you and letting the world wait until you are ready to answer that call. So…what will you do the next time your phone rings? Will you let it go to voicemail?  Try it, you may just learn something about yourself!