Right = left?

I was reminded today about the contradictory thought from the movie Cars; sometimes you have to turn right to go left.  Wait, what?!  How does turning right get you to go left?  The cars were on a dirt track so turning the wheel right did help them in going left.  What this helped me to realize is sometimes, in order to do what you need to do, you have to look at it from the opposite perspective so things fall into place.  I am attempting to do this especially in the area of my life where things feel like they're falling apart - work...

Once again I feel as if work is crumbling around me and I'm desperately attempting to cling to the pulverized pieces as they fall through my fingers.  I know that as the boss I need to learn to keep things together but it makes it difficult when there are people who are rooting for you to fail (or at least it feels that way).  I have one person at work in particular that feels as if they are rooting for me to fail and I am trying to not have them get under my skin - some days are better than others but I am trying.  There are times I wonder if I'm supposed to stop trying and just do it but I'm struggling to discover how to accomplish this.

I am thankful that there are only 2.5 weeks remaining to summer programming because I feel as if things will balance out once we return to regular in school programming.  Granted, this past week I found out that one of my staff is putting in their two week notice so that will put some strain on things but it will give the opportunity to bring new blood into the building.  Regardless of which direction things have to go because of this change, I am hoping that things will change for the better in the long run.  We'll see...

I was introduced to a saying about a week and a half ago that I am definitely trying to embrace - "Note to self:  None of us are getting out of here alive, so please stop treating yourself like an after thought.  Eat the delicious food.  Walk in the sunshine.  Jump in the ocean.  Say the truth that you're carrying in your heart like middle treasure.  Be silly.  Be kind.  Be weird.  There's no time for anything else."  I know that I have been treating myself as an after thought and I need to stop doing that.  I feel like I'll do something to make progress (like taking myself whale watching last weekend) but then I'll turn right back around and forget about my wants/needs and bow to whatever anyone else wants/needs. ..

Yesterday I embraced the opportunity to take two dance workshops from a dance instructor I know about from online.  She offered these classes about an hour and a half away and I convinced one of my fellow troupe-mates to go (we then found out that my instructor and another student signed up to attend as well).  Even though I'm tired and sore after the three hour day, I feel as if I learned a lot and it was definitely a fun day.  There was one correction I received that I wasn't able to do because of my bum knee but I'm hoping to be able to fix that based on one of her other corrections so that's a plus.  Because I had such an enjoyable time, I want to take more opportunities such as this one as they come up.

One of the things that really surprised me was I was approached by two dancers who said they have seen me for the last two years dance with the troupe at one of the largest dance festivals and they were excited to meet/talk with me.  They said that they love watching me on stage and that out of all of the members of the troupe they watch me because I can flip my hair better than anyone and I don't have any (I have short, spiky hair but they said I have the attitude of the hair flip nailed!).  I said that was a slightly weird thing to be "famous" for but I would embrace it.

I guess that goes along with turning right to go left - it's a contradiction but it works.  As I head into another potential 60+ hour work week, I'm going to try my best to look at things from different perspectives and to not treat myself like an after thought.  One of the other things I'm going to do this week at work is I'm going to put a "treat jar" in my office in an effort to "feed my enemies" (or  catch more flies with honey than vinegar or some other metaphor....).  Maybe this will help present a different perspective to my coworkers.  We'll see how well that goes over...

On that note, my dear readers, I'm going to bring this to a close for this evening and get myself prepared for the week ahead.  I hope you have opportunities to put yourself first and embrace the contradictions in your own life.  Thanks for joining me!  =)