Day 64 - 2012 - Niceness goes a long ways!

I am a fairly busy girl.  On any given night I come home and if I did not work out  that morning I work out, then run off to a meeting.  If I did work out, I clean up and then run to a meeting of some sort.  Could be a volunteer organization or just out with friends or friends come to my house to hang out.  Either way I am doing something. It is a rare night that I sit on  my butt and do not a thing.  There is always something that needs to be cleaned, or put away.  Someone needs to go outside or needs to be fed. Right now I have a laundry basket of clean clothes that need to be put away and it is driving me insane that they are not. Now reverse 15 - 20 years, I was the girl that never cleaned a thing.  My bed sheets would stay on for months.  My room had clothes everywhere, no organization, I had to smell things to know if they were clean or not.  Wrinkles were an every day thing (I still hate to iron).  But even then I was a busy girl.  That was my excuse for not cleaning.  I had school, volleyball, homework and somewhere in there sleep.  I have always required at least 8 hours or more of sleep to be a pleasant human being and even then some days pleasant just is not in my vocabulary. 

So fast forward again, now that I have digressed a lot.  I am a busy girl.  So I do not like my time wasted, nor do I like to deal with unpleasant people.  But when you volunteer you have to deal with your time being wasted  by others who (it seems) have nothing better to do then drag out meetings with things that could be discussed off line or by beating a dead horse. I am one that likes you to make your point then move on.  I do not need you to go over it and over it and over it again.  I got it the first time. I understand you are very passionate about this.  Let's work towards a solution.  Telling me the same thing again, is not helping this.  

You also have to deal with unpleasant people. Those who feel like the world owes them something.  They are the ones that are always complaining about something or someone.  They talk about everyone so you know you are being talked about too.  They take things personally and assume everyone else does too.  It is like never ending drama that is sometimes self created.  It is like the drama is their drug of choice and they feed off of it like a zombie munching on their food (like the zombie reference?).  I used to be one of them.  I used to revel in others misery.  It seemed to help me be okay with my life.  Now I am thankful I am strong enough to step back from the drama and walk away.  I do not need to hear the latest gossip nor do I want to know that info.  Last night my jaw dropped twice.. both times when I found out two people (I came across this info at different points in the night) had quit this one organization.  Both absolutely shocked me and one of them was really old news.  But brand new to me, as I never rarely participate in the gossip anymore. I try to walk away or defuse the gossipy talk.  If I participate it usually is to clear up a misconception, though lately I have just been keeping my mouth shut completely. But it was interesting to me, that this group of people last night who seemed like they wanted to nitpick everything, also was a group that one of these women hangs out with. It has been interesting to sit back and watch how this one group has expanded and breeds their negativity.  They do not even realize it is being done.  They want to make their selves known  and change things, so badly, in anyway they can and they sometimes fail to see the bigger picture, the full picture, or look to the past for reasoning.   It is hard sometimes for me  not to say something.  These are for the most part good people, who seem to just be focusing on what to me are really non issues. I understand they are issues to them.  I respect that.  Everyone is entitled to share their opinions (as long as they do not beat the dead horse.. dead horses do not need to be beaten).  I hope soon one of my organizations will become solid again.  We have gone through changes, splits of opinions upon memberships and things out of our control.  I hope the positive attitudes will help move everyone forward. 

 I hope my smile helps someone else smile. I hope me taking a step back, helps others to do the same.   I really want to me that role model that C sees in me. I am glad I can have someone who pushes me to be a better person.  I want to be the girl who smiles no matter what.  I may be a hot mess most days but I am a southern hot mess by birth and I hope my southern values come through to others.  I am trying really hard to remember I like sweet southern belles much better than  new modern outspoken bitches. Southern belles still got things done,  without the pissing people off part.  So if I can be a sweet southern belle most days, I think I am winning my battle.  And lately, I have totally been winning!  I like winning!  I like smiling and I like being happy.  Niceness goes a long ways.  People really should realize this.   Catch more bees with honey!  So moral of today's blog post.  Be nice, you do not know who may be watching.  Be nice and people will be nice back.  Be nice and you will feel like a much better person.  Be nice and bitterness just melts away.  I could keep going, but i am going to go out there and be nice today!