A Pollyanna Moment

Everyone copes with the stress the world seems bent on sending our way in a different manner. Mine is to find a lesson, or a positive side effect of whatever hailstorm I am in the middle of. My co-workers call these my "Merry Sunshine" or "Pollyanna" moments. I admit to having to look up the Pollyana reference, which has a history that back tracks to the 1913 or so but I am gonna focus on the Disney version. It's a movie about a girl that tries to find something positive in every situation she encounters, and has the normal orphan/stern adult archetypes that tag along happily. A co-worker of mine also passed along the Pollyanna quote, "but life is a wonderful and a precious gift to be shared by all!" That is a little more than I can stomach personally.

Anyway, I cope with stress with sunshine. Which if you spent any time around me and my very dry sense of humor you would probably find a little shocking. I accept the contradiction and I embrace it.

Point being is that I have poison ivy and it is nasty stuff. My work group volunteered at the local Boys and Girls Club and I spent the day whackin' and hackin' through brush that was at least four feet deep in areas. Unfortunately, from the activity description I thought I was going to be pulling weeds and maybe some raking. So I wore tennis shoes, capris, a t-shirt, and some gloves.

Did you know it takes 24-48 hours for this stuff to show up? And that it pops up in stages? AND that it gets worse over a weeks time before you finally peak???? Not to mention, it's another week to two weeks before it clears up completely.

Which means I have been nicknamed Itchy, I spend a signficant portion of my paycheck on calomine lotion, both arms are wrapped in gauze, and pants are a painful endeavor that I cope with to work in the office.

So wanna hear my upside?

1. I haven't worked out in almost three weeks. My lingering injuries are finally healing, and I can rotate my hip again. Best of all, no guilt.

2. I have been re-evaluting my work out goals. Actually I had a V8 moment when I good friend said something to me that made me want to hit myself in the forehead. "Why are you letting someone else dictate what success means to you?"

Ah, well that explains why CrossFit has been causing more and more anxiety. I forgot that I really do this workout thing for fun, community, and I really want sweet biceps. I have been way too focused on times, weights lifted, etc. Does that make me less hardcore? Maybe, but so be it.

3. I can now identify poison ivy, poison sumac, and poison oak. Thank you Google.

4. My coworkers who are also inflicted have found a certain bonding in our misery.

5. I had an absolute fantastic day at the Boys and Girls Club and I wouldn't trade it. Though, I would certainly ask more questions about what we are doing, cover myself from head to toe in fabric, and possibly consider dunking myself in Hydrocholoric Acid to stop the poisony ivy before it started.

See all kinds of lessons to be learned :)