Yesterday I woke up to a text from my bank saying that my account had reached below zero dollars. And I was pissed.

I knew that couldn’t be right -and not because I had never been in that position before. If anything, I’ve had a lifelong bullshit love/hate relationship with money. I’ve maintained and amassed and consumed both high on the hog and down to my last. We’ve had several one-night-stands that ended with that asshole Regret crashing the party. And we’ve broken up altogether several times, seeing Dolla disappear for months and even years a time. It’s kind of like my relationship with tequila. And inspiration.

But this was not about my past financial affairs, this was about theft, plain and simple. An unauthorized and unwelcomed $496.97 charge to Tracfone audaciously stared up at me when I checked my account. Yes, someone had used my debit card to buy a burner. A lot of them, apparently.

I was pissed. I don’t mean stomp around the house slamming doors pissed. I mean, deep from my gut, how very dare they, I better not find who stole from me or Ima kick them straight in the dick pissed- a sentiment I relayed to Jasmine, the Banker I spoke with shortly thereafter.

In all of my pissedoffedness, I realized that I was making Jasmine laugh as I spoke about what I felt, and it struck me that I wasn’t leaning into the anger although the situation may have allowed for it. Instead, my good friend & ally Perspective showed up, reminding me of a few things that would enable me to control the day ahead, rather than allowing the situation to do so.

I found myself saying aloud to Jasmine that what had happened, happened and being angry about it wouldn’t change that fact. I found myself dealing with the solution rather than dwelling on the problem. I found myself taking care of what I could and releasing the rest, going about my life as if it hadn’t even happened at all. I found myself totally moving on. And it didn’t take any great effort at all.

I ended up having a really bitchen day yesterday, filled with a lot of productivity and positivity and peace of mind. I wrote, I crossed things off my list, I got shit done. I meditated, I relaxed, I had a lovely dinner out with someone I care for. And none of that changes the fact that it could take up to 10 business days for the fraud investigation to be completed and my money to be rightfully returned. That’s just what it is, and I’m fortunate and grateful that I am able to cover myself financially with my savings.

All that’s good and well, but the real win of the day for me was dealing with the problem, rolling on as I go, and once I’d done what I could, moving past it without carrying it around with me like some shiny trophy for victimization. Because fuck that shit. A thief took my money, they did not take my state of being. And in the end, I had a good day because I decided I would. And that kind of control is pretty fucking rad if I do say so myself.