GUS (Gave Up Smoking) is a community support diary for Kossacks in the midst of quitting smoking. Any supportive comments, suggestions or positive distractions are appreciated. If you are quitting or even just thinking of quitting, please join us! We kindly ask that politics be left out.
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Every day may not be good, but there's something good in every day.
That little homily popped up in my Facebook feed today, courtesy of one of the substance abuse prevention groups I follow there. I sort of stared at it, realizing that I was taking in this chipper pronouncement with a furrow between my eyebrows and a pretty epic frown on my face.
"Really?" I thought,
"...THIS is what you're offering up today?"
Because the last few days have been kind of tough, at least in the 9-to-5 sense. Fear not, I'm not ready to substitute rat poison for the break room Skinny & Sweet, but it's been crazy busy and I've had to deal with a lot of Annoying Little Crap (TM) that keeps popping up, making even simple things harder than they have to be. Prepping for vacation, staring down deadlines, juggling like crazy...lots going on, not all of it so much fun.
And yet---was that little aphorism so wrong? Most days AREN'T all sweetness and light and lollipops and rainbows, but they're not all 100% bad, either. Most days, to be honest, hover somewhere between "okay, I guess" and "meh" with the occasional honest-to-God moment of Pure Good tossed on there like sprinkles on a cupcake.
Sometimes the days are so difficult that you're hard-pressed to find even one good thing to lift your spirits or remind yourself that it's worth it to keep pressing on, to keep working on getting past whatever might be challenging you, or bringing you down, or causing you stress. I was sitting there, grumping away, considering the idea of "finding the good" and basically dismissing it outright when I scrolled down a bit and ran across a cryptic little post from a friend that referenced this song:
Two point five seconds of Google-fu later and the video in question was up on YouTube and playing through my tinny work speakers. And a few seconds after that, I stood up from my chair and busted a very discreet move or two because THAT SONG IS AWESOME AND MAKES YOU WANT TO MOVE AND I HAD TO OBEY. Simple as that. And the playlist it was on had a whole bunch of other songs that made me want to move around and shake off the workday stress.
It's the music I heard in clubs and blasting from car speakers when I was in my 20s and working all kinds of crazy hours and coping with entirely different life circumstances...but the feeling they provided was miraculously still there, still good, and still able to break me out of a too-focused work funk. A random scroll down a Facebook feed reminded me to look for that one good thing for in my otherwise craptastic day and then served it right up. Crazy random happenstance? Maybe. Maybe the Universe knew I was too busy to get there on my own, and offered me a reminder. Whatever it was, I'll take it.
So tonight, I'm just paying it forward, and reminding you to look for that One Good Thing that will help take the edge off even the most frustrating day or challenging point in your path. And if you can't think of one, click one of these and bust a move. It can't hurt!
Who's Your Little Buddy?
1BQ, 2thanks, 3rdGenFeminist, 417els, A Man Called Gloom, Abra Crabcakeya, Actbriniel, addisnana, AfroPonix, aishmael, Alise, Alpha99, also mom of 5, ambeeeant, American in Kathmandu, amk for obama, andsarahtoo, angry marmot, Anne933, anodnhajo, aoeu, AoT, aquarius2001, arcadesproject, Archie2227, arodb, Arthur Wolf (in memoriam), assyrian64, Aunt Acid, awkawk, b4uknowit, BadKitties, bamablue, BARAKABETH, barnowl, b barrie, bdizz, beatpanda, beefydaddy18, betterdemsonly, BFSkinner, bgblcklab1, BigAlinWashSt, Bike Crash, BirderWitch, BJKay, bleeding heart, blingbling65, blue husky, Blue Intrigue, bluedust, BluejayRN, BlueJessamine, Bluerall, bluestatedem84, BoiseBlue, boudi08, Brahman Colorado, breedlovinit, BrenP, BrianParker14, Bronxist, broths, BrowniesAreGood, bsmechanic, buddabelly, Bugsydarlin, bumbi, BusyinCA, cactusgal, cagernant, Carol in San Antonio, CathiefromCanada, CathodeRay, CDH in Brooklyn, Cedwyn, cee4, Cen Den, ChocolateChris, ChurchofBruce, ciganka, cinnamondog, 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