When Computer Problems Plague Your Existence

Rev. Dr. Kitty Boitnott, NBCT, RScP

Heart-Centered Career Transition and Job Search Coach | Stress Management Coaching

I apologize to anyone who has noticed my absence from newsletter communication or podcast production in the last month or so. A confluence of computer issues has plagued me since mid-June. It has interfered with every aspect of my business and, in fact, my very existence--or at least that is how it has felt.

It all started when my iPhone went missing on June 10th. I would have sworn it was somewhere in my office because that is the last place I remember using it. So, imagine my chagrin when I found it under my recliner one day this week.

If you aren't a Mac user, you may not appreciate that you need an Apple ID to access your entire computer system, and you can't access an Apple ID without an iPhone.

It all became quite a blur there for a while. Without my iPhone and an Apple ID, I couldn't get into my computer, which meant I couldn't access any of my business platforms, which meant I couldn't communicate with any of my clients.

For a few weeks in a row, I couldn't access Zoom to conduct group coaching sessions, and I couldn't access my calendar to know if I had any appointments with my clients or prospective clients.

I couldn't be reached by phone by my sister or my boyfriend, who started to worry that something was seriously wrong.

For Mac users wondering why I didn't just use my iPad and the "Find my Phone App" to locate the phone, at about this time, my iPad got dropped and broke, so I didn't have access to the app.

I had to buy a new iPad, and because it wasn't paired with my missing iPhone, the app didn't work.

I spent hours online with Apple customer support using my Apple Watch as a substitute phone--an adequate but unsatisfactory solution- to get myself back online.

I visited the Genius Bar at the local Apple Store four times in four weeks. I am sure those guys shuttered to see me walk in the door because each week, I came in with a new problem.

I [finally] got a replacement phone because, thankfully, my insurance covered loss as well as theft and damage. One of my visits to the Apple store was to get help activating the new iPhone. That trip was a bust, but I went from the Apple store to the AT&T store near me, where a young woman there had the phone activated and working in less than five minutes.

She was the real "genius."

I still had the Apple ID issue to contend with, so I had to go home that evening and get online with Apple Support [again] to get my computer back online.

That was all about a month ago.

In the meantime, I fell out of my daily business routine, which means I wasn't keeping up with my weekly newsletters, my bi-monthly group coaching calls, or my weekly podcast production.

I feel like I have been MIA (Missing in Action) since the middle of June, and if you feel that way, too, I want to extend my most profound apologies.

In addition to the phone problems, I have had various email issues keeping me from receiving or responding to emails. 

When I say I have had a confluence of technology issues that have impacted my "existence," I am not kidding.

You don't realize how much your life depends on technology until it stops working.

Trust me on that.

Anyway, for today at least, I am back online, and I hope to get a new podcast episode up by next week and [finally] get back into my business routine.

The lack of a routine has been the most challenging part of this whole episode, I think. My weeks run in ebbs and flows that depend very much upon a stable routine, and without it, I have felt lost and unmoored.

I don't like feeling that way.

Mostly I don't like feeling unreliable.

And that has been the upshot of this whole month. I have not been reliable.

For that, I am genuinely sorry.

And I promise to do better.

Until next time.