Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The Bright Side

When I was younger, I didn't always have the best attitude.  I know my mom is laughing right now reading that, thinking it's only the biggest understatement of the century.  Hush, mom.  You're interrupting my story...
In addition to having a bad attitude, I was always a bit of a smart alec.  I know, shock and disbelief have overcome you all.
My mom decided one day that she had had enough of my negativity, and decided to employ a new system in our home.  The bright side.  For every negative thing I said, I had to come up with at least one way that the situation was actually good.  You know... if I stepped in dog poo, I could say "at least they weren't my favorite shoes", or other such things. 
This kinda came back to bite her in the butt one evening.  You see, I had become accustomed to finding the bright side in the darkest of situations, something she was not quite ready for. 
One day, my mom came home from work to find her bedroom in disarray.  My brothers liked to hang out in there, because that is where the Nintendo was.  They had trashed her bed, leaving one of her pillows on the floor, amongst dog hair and probably toast crumbs. 
Mom was furious!  She had just completed something like a 12 hour work day, and had been looking forward to the refuge of her bedroom from the time she left it that morning.  I walked in, to listen as she vented her frustration, and to help her fix the disaster area.  When it seemed that she was losing steam, I asked her, in all my adolescent wisdom, what the bright side to the situation was. 
Maybe not the best idea. 
She suddenly found more steam.  "Alright, Samantha (that's how you knew I was in trouble...the REAL name!) I come home from a hard day at work, and find my room trashed, with my pillow on the floor, amongst who knows what!  What on Earth could the bright side in this situation be?!"
Oh, how she underestimated me!
"Well...at least BOTH of your pillows weren't on the floor!"
Mom collapsed into a fit of laughter, and probably called me a brat, or a smart alec.  Either way, she was right. 
So, why do I share this blast from the past with you?
Because I feel my bad attitude returning.  I have a lot on my plate right now, and it's stressing me out that I can't be supermom, super church teacher, super entrepreneur, super homemaker, and super blogger.  I just want to be able to do it all!  Yesterday, my perfectionism and desire to do everything RIGHT THEN, paralyzed me.  I was so overwhelmed, I couldn't do any of it.  By the time Roon got home, I was a wreck. 
The bright side?
He calmed me down.  Instead of suggesting that we remove some of the things from our to do list, he suggested we take steps to complete the tasks one by one.  A not so quick trip to Home Depot later, we had formulated a plan or 10.
The bad news is that in order to complete everything, my blogging my be sporadic for the next few weeks. 
The bright side?
I can use the blog to keep myself accountable.  I can list the things that need to get done, and as I cross them off, I can show ya'll what I did!  Kinda like a much larger version of my "Unfinished Project Closet" posts. 
Lucky for you, a lot of my projects involve fun re-dos and creative expression. 
Hopefully, I'll have a list up on my sidebar by the end of the day for you to all mock enjoy.
Ya'll still want to be friends with the whiney version of me, right?

8 comments:

Macey said...

This was me earlier this summer. I had a couple days where I was almost paralyzed because I didn't know what to do first.
You'll get it done. It will be good.

shortmama said...

I am going through that right now too. So many things to get done around the house that I just dont even know where to begin. And it doesnt help that I get distracted easily so I can get one project finished at a time

Unknown said...

Totally know the feeling. You can do it!

Unknown said...

I blame most of my unfinished, or heck lets be honest here--most of my unstarted, projects on lack of funding...

Just in case "awaiting inspiration" starts to lose its effectiveness. :)

Jennifer said...

I hear ya. If you ever want to get together for the creative aspects, let me know (PLEASE???? I need some creative outlet, but have no inspiration atm)

Myya said...

I have these moments on a bi-weekly basis. My hubby is hardly ever home, he works so much that I all the sudden panic when I realize how much is on my plate sometimes. It only lasts a couple hours & then I'm all better. I'm such a baby I swear!

Emmy said...

Definitely. I have been finding just enough time to write a quick post but that is it. I thought I was supposed to have more free time when school started?

CRZN GMA said...

Oh dear Samantha! You have managed to bring me to tears! Not with sentiment as your siblings typically do. Once again, it is from your (our) sense of humor. I honestly have tears streaming down my face...not only because of the memory, but your fantastic delivery! Sorry you're having a rough week, but there is a bright side... someday it will be a memory!