It may surprise you to know that – despite happily adopting most forms of technology as soon as viably possible (well, except for Snapchat cos ain’t nobody got time to work that shit out) – I only used GPS / Siri iPhone maps thingy for the first time a few weeks ago.

I was in Brisbane for the weekend and took the opportunity to catch up with a couple of my very dear old friends. They’ve both got kids, so it’s easier to do it at one of their places and one of these friends lives on a large property with features galore.

The only problem is, it’s kinda on the outskirts of town. And I get lost every time I go there. In reality it should be a 30min drive but I usually arrive after an hour or so, having pulled over to check a map (hard copy or on my phone) and practically in tears.

However, I FINALLY got my 20yr old niece to show me how to use my iPhone maps / GPS function (via Siri’s voice I assume) to direct me there. (It’s here I should confess I’ve never ‘spoken’ to Siri / the iPhone voice activation thingy, cos I don’t really get the point!)

Naturally – cos I’m a control freak – I checked the route as well, but set off for our lunchtime gathering with the directions ready on my phone . All I needed to do was press start.

And it worked! A woman – presumably Siri’s – voice kept telling me when I’d have to turn and how far I had to go and so forth.

It was a weird experience. Surrendering control. Something I really didn’t consider until my trip home.

My phone you see, decided the shortest route would be different to that we took to travel there. It took me through outer suburbs with which I was not familiar and was far more complex than the freeway and tolls I used to get to my friend’s.

By the time I realised this it was too late to change the route so I had no choice but to follow the dulcet tones of my phone and manoeuvre my way through town. I was – I confess – slightly on-edge the entire time… nervous about where I was, and where I was going. I realised that I essentially had no control over my journey (unless of course I turned the bloody phone off).

After some deep breathing at lights in the middle of nowhere I decided I had no option but to follow the voice. So I did. I surrendered control. To a freakin’ phone.

But, it was constantly proved right. The streets it predicted, appeared. I turned left and right as instructed and before I knew it, I was in familiar territory… not far from my brother’s place.

I’ve been struggling with some work stuff lately and worrying a lot about things that are – mostly – out of my control. Or rather, stressing myself in an attempt to micro manage things that are the responsibility of others, lest the task at hand fail and it reflect badly on me. I think I figure if I can do everything I possibly can – if it still fails – I won’t struggle with the ‘what ifs’ and the guilt.

But, surely there comes a time when we have to step back and let others do their bit. Am I right? Is surrendering control often a good thing?

PS. I attempted to call this post ‘Surrendering control’ but obviously I’ve written about my control-freak tendencies so much on the blog I’d already used that title!

I’m linking up with the Lovin’ Life gang again this week.