OK, so clearly, I'm a little obsessed with the new Imagine Dragons CD. There are worse things. Greg actually turned me on to this song first, which is truly a perfect running song, then it all sort of fell in place from there. It's not often I take to a whole CD, so good job, Dan Reynolds.
Much respect.
It's about time to do the whole shit sandwich compliment shtick, so hang on to your handbags, ladies. Pre CFC, I used to work at a battered women's shelter, straight out of college. It was touchy feely, burn out work, with little pay and many returns. I'm not sorry I left, for many reasons, but it really laid a foundation for the work that I do now and in some ways how I live my life. First of all, I've never appreciated my life full of first world problems until I worked with the women in the shelter. Heart breaking. Second, I've never appreciated the men in my life quite so much. Third, and oddly enough, I picked up on quite a few work etiquette and supervisory lessons while there, which is only odd because the woman that supervised me, quite frankly, hated anyone not African American or with anything higher then a high school education. And no, that was not in my head. She did teach me two things though, that I carry to this day - 1. Don't ever bring a problem to someone that you haven't at least considered a feasible solution to (something I torment my employees with to this day) and 2. If you're gonna hand someone a shit sandwich, at least use good bread. In other words, may sure you buffer that shit with something edible.
So here's my edible. And I am remiss in the fact that I didn't start with this post, so sorry Carolyn, wherever you are!
While I was busy poo pooing my sad little circumstances (see what I did there?) I neglected to even mention the good. And there IS quite a bit of good. Sometimes you just have to dust off the crap (fine, I'll stop) to really see it. Sometimes it's just harder to recognize.
It's always easy to react to toxic people. To internalize their negativity and let it affect you.
But how often do we really, truly believe those that build us up? Almost never. And it's really easy for me to brush off the kind words of the people that do believe in me. I have the best husband, who listens to my tales of woe and tells me to either get the eff over it, or to get the eff over them (after hugging me and handing me chocolate, of course). I have a pretty stellar circle of friends that also listen to my BS and help walk me through the problem, in general reminding me that haters gonna hate (in PC terms). I have a pretty excellent family that also bends over backwards to surround me with love. I also have an awesome team of co-workers, that, even though far away, know how to make me laugh and get through the day. All wonderful people.
So why is it so easy to listen to the negative? I don't know. But I'm done with letting salty people get to me, as much as I can, at the very least. Baz Lurhmann, childhood icon for pithy phrases, said it best "Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how". Well, probably someone said it before he did. But back in 1999, we all thought he was a genius song writer that said everything that every world wise seventeen year old needed to hear. And I guess it somehow, someway, it stuck, right?
So, it's time to move on, folks, Just do it. Whatever it takes. To climb out of that hole and "take me to the top". Gotta love song inspo. ( I know you just you tubed the song. You're welcome.)
And, as my buddy Dan might have intended, that song really is a runner's love. I burned it on my running play list Friday night for the Walworth 5k, a little race Greg and I run every year that coincided with his birthday this year. Yesterday, on a humid as mofo morning, of course. I'm not going to bore anyone with a full race report, but I managed to shave 30 seconds off my time for a respectable 24:12 on a hilly as hell course, 3rd OA woman and a nice age group win. GOOD THINGS. Remember the good things.
Then I came home and promptly signed up for a marathon. Because, adrenaline. I'll be racing the Northern Ohio Marathon on October 1, a tribute to saying adios to my early thirties and the 30-34 age group the day before my birthday. It'll be epic. Can i break 4 again? Stay tuned. The pressure is on, To train. And ya know, actually write about it :-P
Much respect.
It's about time to do the whole shit sandwich compliment shtick, so hang on to your handbags, ladies. Pre CFC, I used to work at a battered women's shelter, straight out of college. It was touchy feely, burn out work, with little pay and many returns. I'm not sorry I left, for many reasons, but it really laid a foundation for the work that I do now and in some ways how I live my life. First of all, I've never appreciated my life full of first world problems until I worked with the women in the shelter. Heart breaking. Second, I've never appreciated the men in my life quite so much. Third, and oddly enough, I picked up on quite a few work etiquette and supervisory lessons while there, which is only odd because the woman that supervised me, quite frankly, hated anyone not African American or with anything higher then a high school education. And no, that was not in my head. She did teach me two things though, that I carry to this day - 1. Don't ever bring a problem to someone that you haven't at least considered a feasible solution to (something I torment my employees with to this day) and 2. If you're gonna hand someone a shit sandwich, at least use good bread. In other words, may sure you buffer that shit with something edible.
So here's my edible. And I am remiss in the fact that I didn't start with this post, so sorry Carolyn, wherever you are!
While I was busy poo pooing my sad little circumstances (see what I did there?) I neglected to even mention the good. And there IS quite a bit of good. Sometimes you just have to dust off the crap (fine, I'll stop) to really see it. Sometimes it's just harder to recognize.
 |
| Truth. |
But how often do we really, truly believe those that build us up? Almost never. And it's really easy for me to brush off the kind words of the people that do believe in me. I have the best husband, who listens to my tales of woe and tells me to either get the eff over it, or to get the eff over them (after hugging me and handing me chocolate, of course). I have a pretty stellar circle of friends that also listen to my BS and help walk me through the problem, in general reminding me that haters gonna hate (in PC terms). I have a pretty excellent family that also bends over backwards to surround me with love. I also have an awesome team of co-workers, that, even though far away, know how to make me laugh and get through the day. All wonderful people.
So why is it so easy to listen to the negative? I don't know. But I'm done with letting salty people get to me, as much as I can, at the very least. Baz Lurhmann, childhood icon for pithy phrases, said it best "Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how". Well, probably someone said it before he did. But back in 1999, we all thought he was a genius song writer that said everything that every world wise seventeen year old needed to hear. And I guess it somehow, someway, it stuck, right?
So, it's time to move on, folks, Just do it. Whatever it takes. To climb out of that hole and "take me to the top". Gotta love song inspo. ( I know you just you tubed the song. You're welcome.)
And, as my buddy Dan might have intended, that song really is a runner's love. I burned it on my running play list Friday night for the Walworth 5k, a little race Greg and I run every year that coincided with his birthday this year. Yesterday, on a humid as mofo morning, of course. I'm not going to bore anyone with a full race report, but I managed to shave 30 seconds off my time for a respectable 24:12 on a hilly as hell course, 3rd OA woman and a nice age group win. GOOD THINGS. Remember the good things.
Then I came home and promptly signed up for a marathon. Because, adrenaline. I'll be racing the Northern Ohio Marathon on October 1, a tribute to saying adios to my early thirties and the 30-34 age group the day before my birthday. It'll be epic. Can i break 4 again? Stay tuned. The pressure is on, To train. And ya know, actually write about it :-P
I need to channel some of your 'brush the crap off' resilience.
ReplyDeleteGood job on your 5k...and beware the 35-39 age group...it's brutal here! :)