Lessons learned
I like to think that I’m not beyond learning from my life lessons. Some I’ve learned but chosen to ignore. As an example, big piles of bacon with greasy eggs and hash browns nearly make me ill. On a Saturday or Sunday morning though, nothing sounds better or smells so delish and tempting. It is guaranteed that 30 minutes later I will start complaining about how shitty I feel. But I “forget” sometimes. Ouch.
I’ve also tried to learn from others’ examples and mistakes; tight stretch pants do NOT make a large ass look smaller, no matter what garish pattern you’ve selected. And some I just have to remind myself of periodically.
This weekend I remembered that being flexible makes life easier, especially when dealing with small children and irate clients. Our three year old is an adorable little firecracker with curls and an impish grin but her idea of speedy compliance and MY idea are totally difference. Actually she doesn’t include “speedy” as part of the whole concept of compliance anyway so right there we start butting heads. But once I loosen up my definition of compliance and timeliness, we’re both a lot happier and things eventually get done. It’s related to knowing when to “Put Your Foot Down!” and when to maybe just let it slide a little if it was just a minor infraction.
So, periodically, I remind myself: Lighten up! Be flexible! If I had the attention span to accomplish it, I’d cross stitch it on a pillow. I’m still trying to finish “Bite Me” from Subversive Cross Stitch.
Another valuable lesson useful in all parts of life is “shut up” ie. not everyone has to know everything. I’m prone to speaking out loud most of my thoughts. I’m very aboveboard and I don’t lie unless absolutely necessary. But abstaining from gut-spilling is totally legit. All I need to do is weigh the outcome of telling versus not telling, and figuring out which has better results.
For example, I had an absolutely horrid boss for about 7 months. I’m not easily moved to tears but this woman had me weeping at night from the stress. When I was given an offer to go elsewhere I snapped it up. Did I tell her what an awful experience I’d had? What a wretched person she was? No. What would have been the benefit of it? Would she have turned over a new leaf? No. Would she be able to black ball me in the ad community here? Most certainly. It was easy to tell her that the other company made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. End of story. Sorry. Buh-bye.
Those are two of mine, what are yours? Leave ‘em and weep in the comments, babe!
I’ve also tried to learn from others’ examples and mistakes; tight stretch pants do NOT make a large ass look smaller, no matter what garish pattern you’ve selected. And some I just have to remind myself of periodically.
This weekend I remembered that being flexible makes life easier, especially when dealing with small children and irate clients. Our three year old is an adorable little firecracker with curls and an impish grin but her idea of speedy compliance and MY idea are totally difference. Actually she doesn’t include “speedy” as part of the whole concept of compliance anyway so right there we start butting heads. But once I loosen up my definition of compliance and timeliness, we’re both a lot happier and things eventually get done. It’s related to knowing when to “Put Your Foot Down!” and when to maybe just let it slide a little if it was just a minor infraction.
So, periodically, I remind myself: Lighten up! Be flexible! If I had the attention span to accomplish it, I’d cross stitch it on a pillow. I’m still trying to finish “Bite Me” from Subversive Cross Stitch.
Another valuable lesson useful in all parts of life is “shut up” ie. not everyone has to know everything. I’m prone to speaking out loud most of my thoughts. I’m very aboveboard and I don’t lie unless absolutely necessary. But abstaining from gut-spilling is totally legit. All I need to do is weigh the outcome of telling versus not telling, and figuring out which has better results.
For example, I had an absolutely horrid boss for about 7 months. I’m not easily moved to tears but this woman had me weeping at night from the stress. When I was given an offer to go elsewhere I snapped it up. Did I tell her what an awful experience I’d had? What a wretched person she was? No. What would have been the benefit of it? Would she have turned over a new leaf? No. Would she be able to black ball me in the ad community here? Most certainly. It was easy to tell her that the other company made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. End of story. Sorry. Buh-bye.
Those are two of mine, what are yours? Leave ‘em and weep in the comments, babe!
Lesson #2...make room in budget for car detailing. (Comment this)