The Effects of Turquoise

Choosing to be Positive

Positive, negative, or neutral?

Am I referring to electrical charges in an atom?  Not today.  Physics may be my absolute favorite topic, but the only subject I can think about right now is the weather.

I've been obsessively refreshing both Dr. Rossetti's and Dr. Cooper's Twitter feeds for hours now.  Not knowing if we were going to be burdened by another snow day tomorrow had made me restless.  I tried to curb the anxiety by cleaning, cooking, and doing laundry.  However, my fear of the unknown drew me back to my iPad over and over again.  I even snuck in a few peeks on my iPhone as well as my MacBook, just so it wasn't blatantly obvious to my family members that I had crossed from curious territory into haunted terrain.  When I wasn't preoccupied with domestic duties or Twitter feeds, I was visiting everyone's favorite weather blog to see if the forecast had changed.  You see, unlike some people, I'm on Team Zornes in regard to snow days.

No, thank you.

I'll pass.

Carry on without me.

Don't mind me.

I'd rather not.

No.

No.

I SAID NO!

However, it seems the damage is done and no amount of refreshing my browser is going to take away the fact that we will have another snow day tomorrow.  Apparently, the spoon was effective.

So, I'm faced with a choice.  A choice we are all faced with every day, whether one of snow or not.  Do I choose to view the event in a positive, negative, or neutral manner?  I love to complain as much as the next person, and believe me there are plenty of negative things I could point out about this snow day.  Sometimes complaining feels good, right?  A neutral approach is safe because it doesn't require a commitment.  If I choose to view this as "meh, whatever" then I don't have to experience any emotions or work through any issues.  Safe and unattached feels good sometimes too.  However, I choose to find the silver lining, or positive, elements of this unexpected arctic air and Gulf moisture gift I didn't ask for.  Just like with most of my experiences in life, I choose to be positive about this event.  It may take me a minute to get there.  I may need to close my eyes, bite my tongue, and take a few deep breaths. But, I'll get there.  I'm happy to report that I have arrived.  Flight 302 to Positive-Outlook is now boarding, and I'm riding first class!  

This snow day brings me two exciting developments.  The first bounty is a guilt-free day dedicated to playing the role I love best: mother.  My daughter, Sophia, has been ill this weekend with a sore throat and a fever.  I have plenty of sick days saved up over the years and can use one without any problems, but if I don't go to work tomorrow, I won't get to see my students.  I've been giving state tests for weeks now, and I'm really missing my students.  I've seen some of them as time has allowed, but there are many I haven't seen in quite a while.  I've been counting down the days until I get to work my Monday schedule.  My family is a priority to me, and I will miss work to care for my daughter, but that doesn't mean I won't feel guilty over not working with my students.  This snow day grants me the gift of caring for my daughter without having to miss working with my students.  That's a silver souvenir if I've ever seen one!  The second endowment bestowed upon me by this late winter misfortune won't be delivered until June 3, our new last day of school.  On Sophia's last day of school in Kindergarten and 1st grade, I picked her up and took her to Culver's to celebrate.  As of 4:00 today, I wasn't going to be able to continue that tradition, and I was struggling with my destiny.  I've been invited to work at the Department of Education as part of a curriculum-writing cohort, which is a dream for someone like me who loves the field of education.  This is one of those opportunities you hope to be granted at some point in your career, so there was absolutely no way I was going to turn it down.  The problem was that it happens to fall on the last 3 days of school.  Troublesome, right?  This new snow day extends the school year, which means I will be back in WC and able to pick up my Sophia and continue our celebratory tradition.  It's more like platinum lining, right?

It's hard to deny that this snow day offers me some positive perks, which makes it easy for me to choose an optimistic attitude.  However, some days and events don't present such a glaringly obvious option.  I still make a conscious effort to choose to be positive.  I haven't always done so in my life, but I can tell you that since joining Team Optimism, I've noticed a difference in my ability to handle stress.  There are still times when I slip back to Team Pessimism, but for the most part I'm genuinely excited and happy about the experiences I face.  I do what I can to find a little turquoise in every day.  How about you?