Good morning! I hope you all are reading this on the right side of a locked door. May the rest of your week be filled with accomplishments, and may all doors open for you (both literally and figuratively). But if they don’t, just be patient because…

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This week’s episode of Great Things takes you to Wayan by Cédric Vongerichten. Located in Nolita, once you step inside, you've escaped the busy streets of NYC to sit amongst the greenery of Bali.

The first culinary venture between Chef Cédric and his wife, Ochi Vongerichten, is inspired by Ochi's Indonesian heritage. That’s why the name ‘Wayan’ is so perfect as it means firstborn in Indonesian.

While you enjoy the bright, communal decor of Wayan and taste the flavors of Indonesian cuisine, you're getting it all with a French twist. It’s a delicious culinary fusion that’ll make you throw your hands up in satisfaction (proof below).

If you recognize Chef Cédric’s last name, it’s because he’s the child of the legendary chef, Jean-Georges, something that he worked very hard to hide while coming up in the culinary industry. Watch the full length video on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts to hear more about his story and the origin of Wayan.

Never skip an arm day?

Last week, I was nearing the end of my work-from-home admin day. There were still a handful of things I needed to submit for their deadlines, but the end was in sight. 

I had that satisfied feeling of knowing I was on track and would be able to enjoy my evening. I pulled out a steak from the fridge to let it rest for 20-30 minutes before cooking and whipped up a quick salad. My plan was to take Frankie for his walk, come back and eat dinner, work out, and wrap up a few more things (maybe even get ahead?!!!! Whew, don’t tempt me with a good time) before disconnecting completely for the night.

As Frankie and I were returning home, it started to rain. Frankie HATES the rain, so getting his walk in before it was too wet is ideal. How perfect was my timing? Everything was right on track as I punched in the code for my door. The door unlocks, and as I go to push the door in, the handle wobbles because it’s loose. Weird. I pull back on it and out pops the entire handle.

Just what everyone wants, right? Your door handle in your hand that’s not attached to your door? 

It’s started to rain harder, so I take inventory of what’s in my pockets. Keys! Well, car keys. Despite me being a car-over-everything kinda guy, it wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for, but better than nothing. So Frankie and I head out to hide from the rain in the car while I try to figure out who can help me get back into my home. Of course, his bougie little butt was not happy about the time spent reclining in style, but I think we all know that Frankie likes what he likes.

During the rental process of this home, I was supposed to pick up physical keys that worked in conjunction with the keypad lock. Guess what I never did? I’ll give you one guess.

I found the number of the guy who installed the keypad and tried giving him a call; no luck. I tried a few other contacts, and no one was answering, so after an hour, I gave a call to a locksmith in the area. I described what needed to be done, and they gave me a quote and asked for payment over the phone. Despite never getting physical keys, I’m not completely naive, and I asked for a payment link instead. They dispatched a locksmith to head over.

We’re making moves here. The night is saved.

After the locksmith takes stock of what’s needed, he gives me a quote. It’s a pretty hefty fee to break into your home, plus replacement of the handle, plus the normal add-on charges for existing and breathing air.

I’m sorry, what do you mean ‘a quote? I’ve already paid for this…’

Turns out he’s a contractor dispatched by the first people I called, and I was never supposed to pay them. No fault of this current locksmith; he was lovely and kind and not the one trying to scam me. He had me call back the other company to hear what they had to say while my anger was rising and I confronted the person on the other end. I could hear my voice rising as I said things like “Oh, so you’re just out here scamming people, huh?” Eventually I hung up, not because things were resolved or because I wasn’t angry, but because I didn’t like who I was becoming.

Not my finest moment.

That firebreathing dragon stayed inside me until I got back into my home, 4.5 hours after Frankie and I had come back from our walk. The prepped food went back into the fridge (I’ll have steak for breakfast), I ordered something quick, and wrapped up what I was doing so I could head to bed. Of course, there was absolutely no way I was getting a workout in now.

That whole evening, the white-hot rage was building inside me. It wasn’t the scamming, it wasn’t the time loss, it wasn’t the missed dinner; it was that all of this came because I put something off. 

I even considered kicking down the door at one point; that’s how much rage was coursing through my body. But as I am not an expert-door-kicker-inner (only an expert-fitness-ass-kicker), I decided that was too risky to try. It wasn’t worth it to destroy more than I needed to. There was going to be no instances of me busting in like the Kool-Aid Man, “OH YEAH!”

The most frustrating part of all of this was that I easily could have prevented that by staying on top of things and putting important things like, oh, I don’t know, PERSONAL SAFETY, first. If this happened to anyone else, I’d absolutely agree that the priorities were off. 

I had no one to blame but myself. Sure, it’s not my fault the door handle came off, but it’s absolutely my fault that I wasn’t prepared for it. That’s part of the reason why I got off the phone; I knew the conversation was not productive anymore, and instead of staying on and yelling at the person on the other end to make myself feel good, 

It truly was a lesson in personal responsibility and deciding what butterfly effect my decisions were going to have on others.

But the whole situation wasn’t just concentrated to one evening; I woke up the next morning feeling like I was behind and needing to keep up with my obligations. Whether or not I wanted my schedule to look a certain way, I didn’t have a ton of choice in the matter. I’m sure every single one of you who is a parent is laughing at this right now, thinking, “Oh, your schedule got messed up? Things didn’t go to plan? Tell me about it.”

Clearly, this isn’t a triumphant story about me achieving something I’d dreamed of… well, not in the most obvious sense. If you can see around my frustration and anger, you can see that my problems are related to my Great Things.

I left the house to walk the dog I’d always wanted. I hid out from the rain in a car I’d dreamed of as a little kid. I was working on deadlines for the job I’d spent many years working towards. Had I been living in a NYC apartment, I absolutely could have gone to the super to let me in, but I’d achieved something I’d wished for, which meant it was on me to get back into my home.

This isn’t toxic positivity; I’m not telling myself I can’t be frustrated, but two things can be true: I can be so grateful for what I have in my life, but also stressed the f out by what comes with it. 

The most important part, though, is ensuring that I don’t turn into someone I don’t like. Mistakes, accidents, setbacks, and disasters will come and go; life will never be perfect, but who am I when things get difficult? Will I become someone I don’t like? Will I give up on things because it got hard?

All of this is easy to say after the fact, to appear like I have it all together, but it certainly doesn’t feel that way in the moment. The only way forward is to work to cut myself off when the white-hot rage monster starts to surface and recognize when I’m headed in that direction. 

It also means that I really need to start carving out time for the little mundane things, because while they seem small and unimportant, they do have the capability of toppling my hard work. If I assume that something is always going to come up, what can I take care of now to remove one point of friction for future Adrian? The list is endless, of course, but I’m going to try my best.

And yes, I do have physical keys now.

If you only pause to reflect on your life for one moment today, do it now.

Things don’t always seem important until they’ve gone wrong and are staring you straight in the face. You can’t ignore them anymore, and you need to deal with them now.

Your turn! Journal your answer, or if you find yourself sharing the progress of your Great Things on social, tag me at @greatthingswith_adrian so I can join in on cheering you along!

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