So, now we’re all up to speed on the poop? Great. Well, guess what -- he just did it again.
It was not nearly as bad as yesterday, but there was still poop on the floor and a smiling, proud boy was standing over the pile. This obviously means war. Bring it on, poop boy. You will not defeat me.
I was also unable to watch “Psych” last night since JAO and I got caught-up in the State of the Union address and all the backbiting, finger-pointing, empty gesturing, lame excuse-making, insulting rhetoric-spewing mess that swirls around such an event. (And that is not a statement about any particular party or person. It's depressing to see just how bad it has gotten on both sides of the isle. Bleh.) So, I went to bed feeling rather down about life.
Perhaps it was serendipitous that this morning I should pull up this old post from ten years ago…
One Positive Thing
October 10, 2000
I was introduced to an interesting bit of philosophy yesterday. I asked someone how their day had been, and instead of getting the automatic, non-committal "fine" response to my perfunctory question (which I expect, no, demand from people), this person proceeded to ponder his answer in search of an accurate description of his day. As I prepared to lecture this person on the proper rules of polite, yet empty, gestures, he says, "Well, no matter how bad your day has been, you're supposed to find at least one positive thing about it. So, what would that be...?"
He then continued to mentally review his day looking for that "one positive thing." If he ever came up with one I didn't notice. I was too busy mulling over this ultra-positive, frighteningly uplifting way of looking at life. Do you realize the implications of this philosophy, of forcing yourself to come up with "one positive thing" every freakin' day? I mean, come on people! I find it agonizingly difficult to come up with "one positive thing" to cover an entire year! But to try and eek one out every day? I'm sorry, but I just don't need that kind of pressure. Geez, being optimistic must be exhausting.
Back to the present. Unless you hadn’t already noticed, when I was in my twenties, I wasn’t quite the stable, emotionally mature picture of mental health that you see before you today. I lived in the negative because, quite frankly, it was easier. And often it was funnier. Do you really think “Seinfeld” would have been such a hit if it was a show about four up-beat, positive, happy-go-lucky pals?
But, now that I am a happily married woman with two wonderful children, my life is much more fulfilling. Well, most of the time anyway. Okay, some of the time. Okay, most of the time I am faking it, but I do it for the children. (For the record, I have never faked it for JAO.)
In my own little way, I’m trying to foster this idea of positivity in my children. When I pick her up from preschool, I always ask L to tell me what her favorite part of the day was. Usually she tells me it was going out on the playground or whatever it was they had for snack. I continue to ask, however, hoping that one day I will get an answer that is remotely related to the process of learning -- just so I don’t feel as though I am plunking down $250 a month for her to play outside and eat pretzels and cheese.
Z has picked up on her repeated answer, obviously, because one day after school when I asked him what was his favorite part of the day he thoughtfully replied, “Um….go out paygound.” Only it happened to be a day when it was pouring down rain. Perhaps, despite the dreary weather, he was just trying to stay positive.
So I encourage you, as you go about your day, to try and find that “one positive thing.” I might not always be easy and sometimes you may have to claw your way through a whole lotta negative to find it. But, if you look close enough, it’ll be there.
It might be buried under the poop, but it’s there.
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