NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION – clear the air!

 AN OPEN LETTER

to every pain-in-the-ass I’ve ever known….

Dear [insert name here],

You are a brilliant [insert title].

You have more certifications than a rehab center, and you seem to love your mother…

However:

You are negative.

You are a whiner.

You are cranky and a know-it-all.

You are always late to [appointments, meetings, parties], if you show up at all.

You seem to think you're above answering emails or phone messages.

You demean your friends.

You drop the F-bomb (which at times, can be very funny) inappropriately.

I can't trust to let you in the same room with anyone I care about.

You drop bad news prematurely, claiming that you were taught to tell the truth.

You have never learned the value of silence. You have the right, but not the ability.

You exaggerate, if not plain lie.

Overall, you are a royal pain in the ass and WAY too high maintenance.

Next time you think of getting together with me; don’t bother. I’ve really tried with you, but I’m running out of garlic….. and I'm kicking your sorry-ass to the curb.

Wow, I’m feeling much better now!

Boo-yah!

BEWARE of EMOTIONAL VAMPIRES

I find myself these days searching for that illusive line between Positive Thinking and Self Delusion. Every time I think I’ve struck the perfect balance between the two, I find that I’m woefully wrong; especially when it comes to friends, or rather, acquaintances.

Let me explain. I’m one of those people that everyone seems to go to for validation. For some reason, my acceptance is needed to validate life itself. Sometimes I play along and bless them, however… sometimes the person neither warrants or deserves validation. Sometimes the person is just having a pity party and wants me to assure them that they are either right and life sucks, or talk them into seeing how truly gifted and marvelous they really are. Homey don’t play those games anymore, because those games can suck the life right out of you, and I will not empower emotional vampires. Say it with me: “I will not empower emotional vampires”. Believe it or not, at the moment, your probably are.

Just to be clear, I’m not talking about the ‘there are no problems, only opportunities’ bullshit. I’m talking about an intelligent, creative approach to problem solving, rather than the much too easy ‘let whoever caused the problem, solve it’. As I may have mentioned before… women are a sisterhood, and we either all succeed or we all fail. It seems too easy, why do so few people get it?

Okay, so where does that leave us? How do you keep a realistic positive attitude when the world around you is falling into the abyss? Oh, wait! That sounded rather negative, didn’t it? OMG, it’s catching! Thinking of unicorns… unicorns and puppies…… okay, I’m better.

So how do you deal with a gloom and doom husband, partner, sister, brother or imaginary friend? What do you do with the person who can fall into a pile of rose’s petals and complain that about the smell of fertilizer? How do you stop that kind of thinking from infecting your personal universe; and it will if left unchecked.

First you have to set up some rules to derail the Emotional Vampire before seeing them:

Declare your personal space a negative-free zone.

Of course you can talk about problems, but leave the emotions as the door.  

Be prepared to discuss your view of the problem; the good, the bad and the ugly.
Give credit where credit is due. Ask your vampire directly is anyone has been a help to them lately. Force them to have a positive thought.

If you are aware of a particular issue before the meeting, come with some possible solutions. Just throwing out a problem with no solution, is fodder for the EV and gives him/her a starting gun for the whole gloom and doom scenario.

 No one is allowed to sit silently, stare at the clock and sigh.

That’s a good start. We’ll go into more ideas as they come. Right now I have to string some garlic for my next EV encounter.

Peace, Strength and Patience!