MAMACADABRA

I am a creature of habit. When I was fat and I started to lose weight I found a salad I liked at a local Mexican restaurant. I knew exactly how many points it cost on Weight Watchers, it filled me up, and it was delicious. I ate that damn salad 5-7 days a week for a year. For. A. Year. I’m convinced I kept that place in business. When I run, I run the same route. When I drive places, I take the same route, even if it seems like it might take longer than an alternate route.

It’s not that I fear change so much. It’s simply that I get into the habit of doing things a particular way and it works. Except for when it doesn’t.

My husband, God love him, is blunt. He doesn’t sugar coat, he doesn’t make niceties, he tells it like it is. Sometimes to a fault. It made for an uncomfortable situation when I brought him to my 15 year reunion and two girls with whom I graduated recognized him from the bars. His story: the girls would get super drunk (my husband doesn’t drink) and end up crying at the end of the night whining that he didn’t like them enough or think they were pretty. Their story: he was an a-shole. I believe them both.

He’s decided I need to look at every single thing that interests me. Even a little. ‘But,’ I think to myself, ‘I’m in a career.’ The MIDDLE of a career. It’s not like I can look for just anything. Right? Wrong, according to him, as my skills are incredibly versatile and transferrable. “Yes,” I say back, “but I’d have to spell it out for people to understand that.” “So spell it out.”

Jesus. This man. There is a reason he’s good for me. Today I had lunch with my girlfriends Ess and Eh. It’s always great to get their insight. Between lunch with them and dinner with my husband I am ready to think outside of the box. And you know what? I mean REALLY go balls to the wall with thinking outside of the box. Why not, right? Seriously. What do I have to lose?

So can I share with you my plans for the weekend? Because honestly? I’m so excited I could die. Tomorrow morning I’m seeing a psychic. I’ve never seen one before, but the other day I was at a shopping party and one of my girlfriends mentioned that she’d seen one, and we thought it would be a really fun idea to have her come to Wine Night sometime. The next day I researched the woman my girlfriend had seen and her website said she was completely booked. I was given the choice to email if we wanted to be added to her waiting list or “come back soon.” Well, through some email conversation, we worked something out and I’m seeing her TOMORROW.

Do you KNOW how excited I am? I mean…forget about it! SO excited.

Tomorrow night is GNO. We have 13 girls heading to happy hour, dinner, and then the country bar. Again…hello??? SO SO excited.

Okay, so every other one of my weekend plans is normal stuff that I would normally do, but those couple things are super fun. Tonight I started looking (see yesterday’s post). I’m keeping an open mind and I’ve decided something needs to be different this time. Instead of looking at the process with trepidation and negativity, I am going to look with joy and abandon all of my worries that they won’t give me a second thought, and I’m going to pretend (fake it ’till you make it) that they would be honored to have me. No matter what the organization, position, or “preferred experience.” I’m also going to ask for help (not a strength of mine) if I think I have connections with people who can help.

See that? I’m thinking outside the box.

Regardless of outcome, the process of looking at things differently, and thinking and acting outside of the box should provide valuable experiences. And in turn, GREAT material for this blog. So stay tuned.

And you can bet your A-S that I will post tomorrow about my visit with the psychic.

TODAY: What if I take this transition time in my life to really think outside the box and look at things differently? What if instead of going into this with fear and anxiety I hold my head high, do a lot of smiling, and assume it’s going to work our perfectly?