These past two and a half... three... I don't know, these past few months have been high as a kite and also as low as our dead and buried hamster (sorry Chicken). Without going full on 'this is my life story' cringe... These past few months have pushed me. Pushed me like a happy dog in to a wet bath, pushed me like new school shoes on your first day, like chocolate pudding when you're already fat.
I have a little rule about the Raising Men blog... (yes we are very professional and have rules around here) (lol) and that is that I don't talk about stuff on Raising Men that my kids don't already know about. Like family things, like proper grown-up things that involve them. I don't know, it's just like I'd sort of be talking behind their backs if I did, you know? We all go through things, and we all get by and we're all happy and we're all sad and we're all failing and succeeding. The fluctuations of life are the juicy bits. The nasty bits. The differentiators of the common life and the mediocre. It's going to be okay.
But a little thing happened. I've been taking on a lot more, and every little thing that goes wrong sends me tripping. Like if you work so hard at having a perfectly organized day and then one person doesn't show up for a meeting or your kid is sent home with a fever (shame kid) and that one thing just dominoes the rest of your perfect little plan? WORST. So I've been trying to keep things streamlined for the sake of continuity and predictability and one of the things that always irritates me is...
I can literally do ALL my shopping in my neighborhood. Everything is here, everything we need. All super convenient. Except that none of the local shops sell rabbit pellets. This does not seem like a big deal, but trekking four suburbs away once a week because you'll buy bulk 'next time' really just got annoying. All the little things got annoying, actually... But this really annoyed me. Like I was projecting on to my local shop because 'everything is out to get me so why can't you just sell stupid rabbit pellets you stupid shop.' You know? And I just accepted it. I accepted "my shop doesn't sell rabbit food so I must go somewhere else". And then I thought about it. I've lived in this suburb for two years. I've had my rabbits for about the same time. Bunnies live about TWELVE years.
This was my argument to the local shop's management a few weeks ago. Then again a few days later. Again the next week. Eventually I got the cashiers in on it and even the guy at the bottle store next door. I nagged and I nagged and I asked nicely and I gave disapproving looks at empty shelves and then eventually and excitedly
And it just made me feel so powerful. So in control. I changed something and made my life a little more convenient just by asking (This isn't about rabbit pellets anymore) And instead of accepting that my local shop doesn't stock bunny food for the next ten years, I just asked them to stock it. Why not? They'd move the product. If you can change something, then at least try and then try harder and then don't give up until you get what you want. Whatever you do: Get what you want and don't let anyone say no to you. I always say (not really): There are two kinds of people; the people that travel four suburbs away to get bunny food every week, and the people that make the bunny food come to them.
You can do one little thing. Do you have a daily / weekly hindering that you just can't shake? Maybe the same douche always parks in your bay at work. Maybe the guy at the coffee shop always gives you hot milk instead of cold, or you're too proud to ask your partner to put the kids to bed just "one more time" this week? Maybe you don't see your friends enough, or you never have coins for the car guard or you're always blowing that guy off that asks you out. Whatever it is and now matter how ordinary - making small changes will pave the way for easier, better and best days. What are you going to do this week to change your life?
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