I’ll bring you Google Tuesdays in a little while. But judging by the number of times people have come to me the past few days to cry on my shoulder — and the number of times I’ve needed comfort myself — it’s time for me to do what most people who run Mom and Pop type shops like myself seem to do.
It’s time to clean off the counter, shine it up to a fine gloss, and put some sunshine in everyone’s cup. So pull up a chair and I’ll pour you a tall one.
Take your hand out of your pocket — It’s on the house.
So, let’s summarize.
It’s been a rough few weeks no? They tell me I’ve been deathly ill – I say they’re exaggerating… if I was deathly ill, I’d be what?
That’s right. Dead. It’s the greatest thing to be grateful about when you’re sick, even when you seem to be all the time like yours truly.
What else is going on?
Ah yes, here in the States, there’s tax week for people who get a wage, or whose tax years happen to follow the calendar.
What elss…
I’m not a Catholic, but my Mom’s entire side of her family was raised that way. And even though I’m not one, the death of a spiritual leader is a big deal to a lot of people, including me.
All of this is brought up to say, whoever you are, where ever you are, it’s been rough everywhere. Customer service lines, I’m told, are ringing off the hook, and people seem to be complaining just to complain.
It’s enough to make you want to pull the covers up to your head and sob like a small child. And I’ve been doing my fair share of whining myself… I admit it.
I mean, in the last two weeks, what have we got?
- Many people sick from the flu
- Tax week
- Demise of a spritiual leader
- General malaise and inexplicable meanness everywhere.
Which begs the question – what can we do about it? What do you do when everyone, everywhere, just seems to be sour and/or mean? What do you do when you go in search of a hug and get kicked in the face again? How in the world do you recover from being kicked when you’re down?
It’s simple. I don’t think you’re gonna like it. But it is simple.
Get back up.
Yes, that’s the answer, at least the start of it. No one said anything about it being Easy – I said “simple.”
If you don’t put a whole lot of thought into it, it really is simple. Just. Get. Up. Like Trinity in the Matrix, remember? “Get up, Trinity. Get Up.” And then she got up.
Simple.
I see that you’re still laid out on the floor. Hm. Okay, would I have to do to put you in this standing position today?
How about this?
If you lay there on that floor, bleeding emotional wounds from your soul, the crabby people win. You know why the people who saw you were down kicked you? Because they thought that seeing someone worse off than themselves would boost their rock-bottom self-esteem.
Don’t even give them a chance to see that it hurt you. Don’t just get back up. Bounce back up.
What’s that? How do you get back up?
Let’s think. What puts a smile on your face that you can indulge in? A short walk in the sun? A decaf latte at Starbucks? Can you give yourself a 15 minute break, and go there now?
What’s your favorite song? What’s your favorite movie? Can you put it on?
Who’s your favorite person? Can you go hang out with them a while?
If you can’t leave where you are or play music, you still have the entire landscape of your mind in which to play. Just think, for twenty seconds, of what your favorite thing to do was when you were a kid. Think about Your kids, or your nieces, nephews, cousins.
A course that I took recently cited a scientific study that shows that just 17 seconds of thinking of something that makes you feel just a little better can completely eliminate the negative energy of the thought before it.
My point is, no matter what is going on in the world, no matter what people do to you, or what crappy incident put you in a bad mood, you have a choice.
You can dwell on the problem.
You can look for a solution.
You can spread the negativity that was unleashed on you.
You can take it upon yourself to lift your own spirits.
You can even take to the streets and lift someone else’s spirits.
So, I challenge you. Let’s work together to eradicate the scowl in every heart we encournter. If someone is less than civil to you, instead of doing that knee-jerk retailation, smile. You don’t have to smile At them… if you’re new to breaking cycles of sadness that might be a little much. Just smile to yourself. If they pick it up, that’s great. If not, you interrupted a pattern of negativity, and someone else, somewhere, will see your smile.
I’m betting we can send positivity around the entire world. I’m betting that by this time tomorrow we can bring things not just back to normal, but better than they’ve been in months.
If you’ve got the guts to spread this smile out loud, make a comment on it in your blog. You don’t even need to link to mine, if you haven’t got the words. Who cares who get the credit as long as the world is a better place by the next time we wake up.
So small business bloggers of the world unite! If you’ve been noticing a morale dip in your neck of the woods, take your spot in the light and use it to spread just a little happiness.
And if you’re not feeling that bold, just share your smile. No one has to know but you and me..
Back to our regular scheduled blog posts, i.e., Search Engine Tuesdays in a few hours.
