My much-used and appreciated tablet died yesterday. Or, at least, it seemed to die. One second, I was opening an app, the next, the screen went black, and I couldn’t get in or out of anything, tablet, app, or otherwise.

Of course, my first reaction was, “Oh, no! I’ll have to get another tablet!” This conjured up thoughts (and fears) of having to upgrade my ‘tablet experience,’ reload apps and data, and figure out what books belonged where. Sigh!

But then, I wondered, “Is it really dead? Or, did I accidentally do something to make it ‘sleep?'”

I decided to seek a second opinion. So, today, I toted the tablet down to the wise young men at the Samsung store.

“Can you help me?” I asked. “I think my tablet’s dead, but I’m not sure.”

One of the wise workers looked, looked again, put a finger on the power button, held it there for quite awhile, then set the table down on the desk. In a flash, the screen lit up and the familiar boot graphics appeared!

“It’s alive!” I cried (well, said, joyfully).  “What was wrong with it?”

“Could be the app you tried to open is corrupted and it locked up the tablet. If this happens, hold the power button down for several seconds. This drains the power and reboots the tablet operating system.”

Very happy, I thanked the young man profusely, popped my tablet into my purse and hurried home.

Home…Where it dawned on me that life with chronic pain is much like what I just went through with my tablet.  I’ve just been through a very painful period, especially with neck and back spasms and arthritis. It’s been so very painful that I’ve felt zapped of energy, drive and, yes, power. But this turned out to be a good thing because in this instance, I took my own oft-repeated advice that, “When you feel most burdened with chronic pain, sometimes the best thing you can do is resolve to rest until you can ‘reboot’ your tired self.”

This is exactly what I did over the past few days – gently going through exercises and range of motion to encourage movement, but also encourage destressing. And, it worked! Like my tablet, which had been victim of a terrible app, my body responded well to a period of rest and a reboot.

And, now, we’re both humming along once again!

Peace,

Maureen