It
was Saturday night; my husband and I had a nice dinner out, and the kids were
gone for the night. As I was lying on
the couch in a sushi coma trying not to fall asleep, I realized how exhausted I
already was. No! There were still 34
days until Black Friday, or the official “kick off” to Retail’s holiday season,
but for me and my family it had already been well underway.
In
the Retail world, the planning and beginning stages of the holidays start
earlier and earlier each year. For more than 16 years we have been dealing with
the trials of parenting, trips out of town and other challenges of the season.
And each year I try to handle it better.
Each year that my own children grow older makes that task a little
easier. Or so I think, because each year something happens and I snap. It’s usually something stupid and small, but
I punish the world by taking to my house for the rest of the holiday season
only to emerge when the holidays have safely passed and inventory is underway.
But
I decided that this year was going to be different. I couldn’t take it anymore.
I couldn’t put my happiness into the
hands of a big corporate retailer. It
wasn’t fair to me and it’s certainly not fair to my family. I knew I had to be
responsible for my own happiness. I determined
that I must change within myself. I had made the decision to become a happier
person, but really, that’s pretty vague.
I
had no real plan, just an idea of who and how I wanted to be. I was not the Susie Sunshine type, that would
never be my personality. But a long time ago, before life got serious, life was
fun. But since we can’t just chuck our
lives and responsibilities out the door I determined I had to let the sunshine
in. Enter Blacktop. I was very
unsuspecting of anything, the first show I saw. I just remember giggling like a
little girl. Later I realized that the
humor was so much to my taste that I found I wanted to take a class. I didn’t even tell anyone, including my
family, that I attended the Level 1: Intro to Improv. I just snuck off, made my excuses and went.
Flash
forward four months: Since my
involvement with Blacktop, improv, comedy and all the people and events that
come with it, my path became clearer. It
was so simple. The key to happiness was laughter. And laughter at Blacktop was easy. Whether you are giving it, or receiving there
is always something happening to make you smile. Since I had already been working towards
changing my overall attitude towards life and eliminating all the negative
sources, I figured I might be in the right place.
I
took paper to pen as all great plans must be written down. Well, if I don’t
write it down, chances are I won’t remember. My plan entailed that from now on, I would
only surround myself with positive people, engage in positive activities and remove
myself from negative people and
activities. This going to be step one. Am I perfect? No, of course not. Just the
other day, someone asked me how I was. When I listened to the playback reel in
my head, I realized that I sounded terrible.
I was feeling very negative, adjusting to the rigors of “season”. It was leaking out in in my conversation.
Blech! Who would want to hang around
that? But, I did some volunteer work,
watched a great Blacktop show and got a good dose of comedy and laughter. Exploding Zombie Turtles! Awesome!!
I was nearly on the floor in hysterics each time one of those little
buggers blew. Before I knew it, I was back with my old pact of being happy and
hanging with positive people.
So
I’m warning you holidays, beware! You will not rain on my parade this
year! And while I seek out the positive,
while eliminating the negative (step one!), I can’t wait for the journeys
ahead. Yes, I understand, step one will
probably never be over as life is a constantly changing force, but’s that’s okay,
as it is the journey and not the destination that matters.