…how someone is going to be affected by the way you choose to show up in the world at any point in your day.   Think about it, you make a decision on how to react to a situation and then carry on into whatever comes next for you, meanwhile, a whole chain reaction happens based on that one interaction you just had with someone or something. It could be something so minute as putting fancy mustard in your shopping cart at the grocery store in aisle 7 and then you get to aisle 2 and you decide you don’t want it and your lazy ass won’t walk 5 aisles over to put it back where it belongs. So you put it next to the crackers and Cheez Whiz. And you walk away and that’s it for you as far as fancy mustard goes.  But what happens next?  What happens to that mustard? Is there a pregnant woman entering the store that is looking for the just right snack to satisfy her craving?  And all of a sudden she sees the crackers next to the Cheez Whiz AND the fancy mustard and she thinks, THIS IS THE MOST BRILLIANT SNACK IDEA EVER!  Then her baby grows up to cure world hunger creating a product called Cheeztard.  Or maybe you put it back on the shelf but not fully on the shelf and you walk away but then the fancy mustard falls and gets all over the floor.  Then a soccer player walks in to grab some beer and snacks after a game and he accidentally slips on it while texting in aisle 2 and he tears his ACL and BAM! He’s out for the rest of the season with a huge medical debt because he didn’t have health insurance.   I’m pretty sure there are at least 2 movies in not 2000 based on this whole idea.

This year has been off to a rough start for me.  It could be worse, and I will survive, because that’s what I do, but shit twice and fall back in it, I’m ready for the tide to turn!  I’ve decided that the best way to mentally deal with this situation (and for others that have to deal with me) is to make sure that I focus on gratitude everyday.  I look for the little things around me that enrich my life and I make sure to pay homage to those things and people involved.  Today I was grateful for the Duke Energy contract employee who came out shut off my electricity because I hadn’t paid the deposit.  It’s crazy that they wanted a deposit from me in the first place, because I have had good standing service with them for years. I don’t have terrible credit either.  I also didn’t have the money to cover the deposit.  I didn’t have to beg the guy to keep it on, he was so kind and told me that he wouldn’t shut it off.  He asked for me to call them to speak to someone but he was moving on to his next assignment.  And if they sent him out again, he said he would come and talk to me first before doing anything.  This man didn’t know me at all.  He could of been a jerk, not cared about my situation, and I’m sure he’s heard every excuse in the book when dealing with people who don’t want their power shut off.  But instead he was compassionate and this was my first interaction with another human this morning.  I was having an incredibly hard time getting my act together this Monday morning and was about to be late to a meeting, and I’m the type of person who is early to everything.  So yea, my day could of started off much worse depending on how my interaction with him played out.

The last part of my work day took me to absolute Bummertown, which is what I like to say when things go to shit. Someday I will probably write a song called, I Had A One Way Ticket to Bummertown. It will be a country song with a great hook that will get stuck in your head. Seriously, just wait.  One day I will post it here first and then it will be huge and you can say you saw it here first.  And you knew me before I was all mainstream and sold out to the man. All four of you that read this. I’ve digressed. I’ll address my hit songwriting skillz in another blog.

After I hit Bummertown I was ready to go home and start drinking and watching crappy television.  But then I thought about the guy this morning and I realized that I could of started the day off completely different, had it not been for his kindness. I recognize the need to be accountable on how others affect me and not let one experience ruin my whole day.  But I also know that had it started badly AND ended badly, then I would most likely be drinking vodkas and watching gross television right now. But instead, I am writing and drinking tea.

So thank you, contractor man with the thick southern accent. Thanks for making this day better than it could of been. You inspired me more than you know.

And if you need to be inspired….check this out!