#firstworldproblems or An Internet Meme Changed My Life

You’ve just flown across America. You walk up to a rental car counter to pick up a convertible you reserved. It’s not ready. You’ll have to drive a loaner Civic for a few hours. When the car you reserved is ready, it will be delivered to you.

This happened to me two days ago and I thought, what a #firstworldproblem. And in stead of being irritated at the digital infrastructure fail, I laughed.

A good meme is like sunshine on a cloudy day or a delicious new flavor of ice cream. It dashes your day with a split second of surprise awesomeness.

Recently I have taken the meme “first world problems” to the next level. I use it to catalyze optimism. When I think about it, 99.999% of would-be daily frustrations are not a big deal. They’re basically irrelevant. Like the convertible situation. Or a few hrs delayed flight. Traffic. My latte tastes burnt..and the barista didn’t even put a fern leaf in the foam. Fail. I’ve established a habit that even BJ Fogg would be proud of. I’ve figured out how to turn frustration into laughter. The answer (to all life’s problems) is a meme. Try it.

Next time you’re frustrated ask yourself if you are experiencing a first world problem.

Potential #firstworldproblem indicators:

– anything related to paid vacation
– inconveniences. Expensive healthcare is a firstworldproblem. No healthcare is not.
– Involves Internet (AT&T..terrible..yet 100000x better than Nigerian Internet), electricity (low battery already?!), technology (damn it, forgot to turn on the dryer again), spare money and time (my Mercedes only takes premium fuel)

It goes on. And on. Really this post is to say that the next time you feel frustration welling think of #firstworldproblems. I do. It changes my perspective. I think and interact differently. It also influences others. Laugh at problems. If they won’t matter in 100 years, shift focus and see frustrations for what they really are: future funny stories.