My Phone Charger Works at an Angle Einstein Would Quit Physics Over

If there was an Olympic event for balancing wires at impossible angles, I’d have more gold medals than Michael Phelps. My specialty? Competitive charger wrestling. But medals don’t matter when your phone is dying at 3% and the charger has decided it’s not in the mood. Some things don’t break all at once. They fail slowly, until you realize you’re living by their rules. So, is my charger in charge? Definitely. I accepted that the day I realized I was losing thumb fights to a cable.

We are in a toxic relationship, my charger and I. It gives me just enough hope to stay, and just enough pain to make me question every life choice. Honestly, I can’t even blame it. I’ve pushed it past its limits. Maybe it’s waiting for the day I finally let it go. But that day isn’t here yet.

It barely works, not unless I twist it just right. A little to the right with a slight upward tilt. And if I’m lucky, the screen lights up like it’s doing me a favor.

The charger has moods. Some days it’s generous, some days cruel. And I’ve learned to live with its moods. I know the position it likes best. The strange choreography of almost-there. Plug in, adjust, glance at the screen. No light. Tilt it. Still nothing. Then the magic moment. And I freeze, holding my breath, afraid the smallest movement will break the connection. It feels less like charging a phone and more like bargaining with the electricity gods. At this point I’m practically a professional charger wizard.

And I wonder how many other things in my life work just like that. The workarounds I’ve memorized just to hold it all together. The Things I’ve learned to manage instead of fix. The Things I tolerate because they still sort of serve a purpose. The habits I keep because I don’t know what to replace them with. The friendship I keep alive only when I don’t speak my truth. The patterns I repeat, not because they’re good for me, but because they’re familiar.

Sometimes it’s not about replacing, but about bending yourself around the things you don’t want to lose. You don’t always need something new. Sometimes, you need to ask yourself why you keep clutching what no longer works.

Oh, and the charger. Maybe, one day, I’ll let it go. But not today. Today, I’ll twist the wire, hold my breath, and wait for the lighting bolt to appear. And maybe it’s proof that even damaged things can still give a little life, if you hold them… just right.