When USB Mini-As & medieval prisons don’t work together.
We can have the greatest solo adventures.
Picking our route. Taking the detours that call out to us.
Maybe you walk to where the Globe Theater once stood, find a authentic pirate ship, and see a sign labeling a building the “most notorious medieval prison—voted by the people”
You take all the pictures you want. Windows that feel like metaphors. Videos of your favorite song playing on a colorful street you’ve never seen before. You track down the real London Bridge that locals were adamant about having no towers on it and say looks rather plain, but you wanted to see the namesake of the creepy nursery rhyme. You use the maps app and research “pubs near me” or “The Clink visiting hours” because now you have to see inside the most notorious medieval prison—voted by the people.
You hit the afternoon with 25% phone battery. You decide to be preemptive, proactive, responsible; you start charging your phone since you know you’ll need it to navigate or maybe check in.
The cord doesn’t fit.
How?
Do we blame Apple for switching port structures so many times that you have so many lying around? Even though the one you grabbed is the one that would fit your flip phone from 5th grade and not the last 4 smart phones you’ve had?
You feel like an idiot. How could you do this? You should’ve been more conservative, but you thought you had it figured out. You thought you had a plan. That you were doing everything right.
Now your battery is vulnerable. You feel vulnerable too.
For a moment you swear you’ll never leave the house again. You take a deep breath and sigh instead of letting your head fall in your hands.
Some things just don’t connect the way we thought they would. The way we planned for.
Maybe next time you check what’s in your bag twice before you leave the house.
Or you don’t check Instagram on a day out.
Or you keep a close eye on your battery.
We become cautious. We learn. We change.
But right now find your way home.
Tune in. Use your senses. Be aware of your surroundings.
There was a time when the flip phone charger was the only charger in the world you needed. Or that, and your school Chromebook charger. Maybe you need to adapt even more than companies need to develop adapters. Try new things. Figure out what works for you.
But don’t stop taking solo adventures. Maybe while you smooth out the bugs, bring a reliable friend along who has a history of efficient hitchhiking.
While I did stumble across the most notorious medieval prison—voted by the people—the concept of a USB Mini-A is a fictional scenario meant to be a universal metaphor for whatever it makes you think of and whatever you currently connect the concept of trial and error with in your own life. You will figure it out.
Being patient with yourself is the best charger.
Live Writer 