Phone Separation Anxiety
When I was in my late twenties, the same week my sim card died and I was without a phone, my car broke down with no way for me to call for help, twice. The first time was traumatic. I'd never broken down before, it was getting dark, I was on a busy city freeway, no phone. I started crying immediately, struggling through panic, trying to figure out what I was going to do. After a while, with no one stopping to help, I quickly jotted down a note to stick in the window that I was not abandoning my car, then I carefully, anxiously, walked along the freeway to the nearest exit and walked 45 minutes to the university campus where I hoped someone I knew would be available. Thankfully, someone was. I got my car towed to a repair shop, they repaired it, and I was on the road two days later. Except on the way back from getting it fixed, the exact same problem happened, on the same freeway, almost in the same place, except this time I was stuck between a busy on and off ramp, which meant I couldn't just walk somewhere for help. So, no phone, no way to walk, same issue. Instead of turning into a panicked, blubbery mess, though, I got angry. Really pissed off. Kicking my tires, shouting, slamming doors, the whole nine yards. It took a very long time for someone to stop and help me call AAA again. Since this hell week without my phone, I've been very... anxious about always having a working, charged phone on me at all times.
Today, after nearly a month of procrastination, I finally had to box up my phone to ship out for repairs. The cracked screen started glitching and it became practically unusable. The day I dropped it at got the cracks, I had done an insurance claim, which was pretty much immediately accepted, and two days later I got a box to mail it in, but that separation anxiety kept me from doing anything. Even when I got a temporary flip phone as a stopgap, I still couldn't let go until I had no choice. My life is on my phone. Banking, shopping, communication with family and friends, pictures, notes, wake-up alarms, all of it. We put our whole lives on a small, delicate, handheld device and hope we don't lose it, break it, or let it get stolen.
Maybe I need to disconnect so I don't get so anxious the next time this happens.