My 6 word memoir

So, one of my LinkedIn group members from ‘Writing Mafia’ posed a question to the group: Try and sum up your life in only 6 words. Of course I thought he was bananas at first, but when I thought about it for a second I realized that life really isn’t all that complicated. We as human beings make it that complicated and create tons and tons of new work for ourselves every day. When you really think about it, most people are pretty predictable. No matter what your outward personality suggests, one thing rings true for all of us-we ALL crave human contact in some form or another. A large part of me wishes I didn’t crave that aspect of life so much, but I do. But even a people pleaser like myself still needs some downtime. I have learned in life that being a people pleaser pretty much guarantees that you will be burned out 80% of the time that you walk this earth. Thankfully for me, the advent of text messaging and Smart phones have allowed me to distance myself enough to reclaim time for myself.

On the opposite side of the spectrum is my cousin Alex. Alex would prefer to engage in the least amount of human contact as possible. But even for that cynical techie who is extremely annoyed by dumb questions and sentimental overtures, a small amount of human contact is still necessary. Periodically Alex will engage in small talk at a local Starbucks for an hour or so, or until the ditzy blonde sitting next to him pisses him off with a dumb question.

I’ve learned not to take myself too seriously. Of course it took me about 30 years to learn that, but hey I like to stop and smell the roses along the way. My life has been plagued with cooky scenarios that make me feel like someone is playing a cruel joke on me. Every possible stroke of bad luck has presented itself to me and attempted to destroy any plan I have ever put together. I have learned not to look at that as a bad thing. Instead of crying over spilled milk, I learned to be resourceful. What I learned whenever drama presented itself is that my life story is ten times more interesting because I have always taken a non-traditional path to success. I have gotten REALLY good at picking up the pieces and starting over.

Once I freed myself of my compulsive worrying and over-analyzing-"or did I actually free myself? Should I have freed myself? Maybe I shouldn’t...It’s probably too late...No, I think I still have time"-everything I did thereafter was a walk in the park. Life became as simple as the directions on a shampoo bottle-Wash, Rinse, Repeat. No matter what scenario you are faced with, once you learn your own strategy to life, you are home free.

So, after 30 years of obsessive compulsive behavior-Wow, 30 years?!...Maybe it wasn’t quite that long...Well, maybe it was...Have I destroyed all my chances of...Okay, I realize I have a tendency to be too hard on myself. But the beauty about life is that every day you wake up you are presented with a new opportunity to change your story. So, my 6 word memoir is ‘Are you Serious? You Can’t Be!' That's the whole story of my life, and the interesting path I’ve taken. The beginning of the story may change a little bit, but the ending is always the same. As long as I’m in the Driver’s Seat, nothing else really matters.