Don’t be Debbie Downer

I’ve been feeling a bit down lately.  Suddenly the states of our schools, health care and the world’s economy have got me singing the blues.   

It started when we were rear-ended by an uninsured driver on the way to the kids’ school in September.  Thankfully, we are all OK and the car is fine.

After crying from the shock of getting hit with the kids in the car, I sat with the guy on the curb and had a good old-fashioned “talk” with him about personal responsibility. He was probably ten years my senior.  People that passed us on the road later told me they thought it was a married couple having a disagreement.  

Once I was done delivering my “mom” lecture, though, it was clear he had little money, and a small mark on my bumper seemed trivial in the larger picture.  

But it freaked me out that bad things can happen. 

I believe that there is a higher truth (I avoid using the word reason here) to life’s events, but find it annoying how the lessons are not apparent when they are happening. 

If I were the Divine Organizer, I would have little asterisks next to life’s unpleasant events that you could click on, similar to the Amazon Kindle’s dictionary function.  It would contain a brief synopsis about how, in the long run, this would serve you on the path to becoming a better (or at least a wiser) person.

In the first few days after the accident, I tortured myself with “it could have been worse” scenarios.  Tip: Don’t do this.  You just end up feeling badly for others in those situations. 

I also found myself unable to blog.  I didn’t want to be Debbie Downer. 

So, I figured if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.  I watched a Debbie Downer episode that made me laugh until, well, I didn’t feel so down. 

I hope you are feeling happier today, but in case you are not, I recommend checking out this episode when Debbie meets Disney (and Lohan) and the SNL actors can’t keep a straight face: http://www.buzznet.com/tags/debbiedowner/video/.

Happy viewing!

By Kristy Lund