“Getting Shit On!”  Literally and figuratively I was SHIT on this past week.  It’s actually quite funny and was very much of a reality check for me. During my escape to my mom’s, none of the “what if’s” I worried about happened, none of the fears happened, no panic attacks, and the drive there and back was fine… My anxiety wasn’t right – I was fine! I am FINE!  It’s amazing how your anxiety can convince you to stay negative and to worry about things that could happen. Why is it so much harder to be stuck in the negative – then to see the positive – to see the blessings – and to be thankful?

During our trip, we went to the beach, my absolute happy place. There’s just something about the feeling of my feet in the sand and the water, the sound of the waves crashing, and the smell of the salt air – it calms my soul.  We had a wonderful day and even though my anxiety was trying to creep out and find things to worry about, it wasn’t strong enough for the beach or my mom! I think I actually took a deep breath.  So while my anxiety tried to whisper worries, I frolicked in the ocean (yes I used the work frolic).

I’m sure you are wondering how I got SHIT on while in my HAPPY place.  While I was frolicking in the ocean and laughing and playing with my son, I felt something wet smack me on the shoulder.  I looked around thinking maybe some obnoxious kid had thrown wet sand at me. The only kid near me was my own and he was now walking toward our beach chairs. I started to follow him out of the water and out of the corner of my eye I noticed a greenish snot like blob on my left shoulder. Instantly and with some panic I stopped walking and looked around, there were SEAGULLS flying all over my head. A bunch of annoying beach goers were feeding seagulls right by the shore line. Just as I looked up, I realized one of the seagulls had just pooped on me. I was just SHIT on! EWWWWWW and OMG! I told my son I was pooped on and he started laughing and ran to the rest of our family to tell them of my trauma. I was disgusted. I ran into the force of the waves and let the water remove the SHIT off my shoulder. So GROSS!  Once I was confident it was off me, I started walking up to my family and could see the huge smiles on their faces. That’s when I started laughing – not just laughing at the actual SHIT that was on my shoulder, but at the SHIT I’ve let bother me that didn’t really matter at all. I was SHIT on but I was also able to wash it off and laugh. What a crazy idea? I hold onto so much SHIT, it’s time to wash it all off and laugh. It doesn’t have to make me anxious! I can move past this SHIT!

Here’s the challenge for myself and everyone – If you get anxious and feel SHIT on, just wash it off and laugh. It’s that easy (at least when it’s seagull SHIT). Going forward, I am going to imagine that seagull and how easy it was to change my perspective and wash it off. I make things so much more difficult for myself – it’s time to make it simpler and embrace life more. Make the choice to change my perspective – Only I have that power. Only YOU have that power. STOP PEE’ing on TODAY and Laugh at the SHIT!