Riding the Wave . . . . Of Uncertainty

Maybe it's just the end of winter SAD syndrome, where this L-O-N-G winter never seeems to end. Or maybe it's the bad economy that has dragged on for so damned long. Maybe it's the tension of so many people holding on for so long and hoping things get better. I don't know quite WHAT it is, but this week has been a doozy. Sadness, tension, rudeness, snapishness and bad temper seem to be palatable.

Yesterday, a coworker stopped by my office and said, "We've got to get out of here. Take me away. Please." So we went out to lunch together just because we had to get away and vent frustration - get it out - and then laugh together, big belly laughs that made us both feel so much better.

And for those in the Northeast who have been hit by 30+ inches of snow, I realize that our midwest bellyaching about winter seems pretty shallow in comparison to your true despair at being buried in your homes for days and weeks on end.

Anyway, I told my coworker yesterday that I think one reason we're all so "nerves on end" isn't PMS, but simply the fact that people are extremely tense when change becomes such a constant. Many of us have been "riding the wave" for so long that we're getting deadened to it and no longer have the resilency to spring back.


My husband and I escaped last night -- yes on a weeknight, to a local comedy club, to see Jimmy "JJ" Walker. Remember the show GOOD TIMES? (Many of you may be too young to remember). This man is hilarious. He didn't talk about his GOOD TIMES days, but his humor was wonderful - sharp, right on point. What I like was that he didn't need to pick on people in the audience like many comedians do who have a little bully inside of them. Instead, he's talented enough to truly have a full show just on social commentary and acting out people he's seen and known.

Being a guy who was a teen in the 1970's like we are, of course we really identified with him. One theme that he drew from heavily was how uncertain the times are that we're in. He recounted all the sage advice he'd been given as a kid. Things like: Go to college, you'll get a good job. Get a job with a big company and you'll be secure. Invest in the stock market, you'll become rich from it. Anyway, he was a riot. I didn't realize that David Letterman got a start in comedy by writing material for JJ. Well anyway, his show was fantastic and gave me a mid-week lift.

I'm not a surfer myself, but here's to all of us hanging on, riding out the wave. Realizing that uncertainty is scary for most of us. But it will be okay. Really it will. We'll get through. When the wave hits you, do whatever it takes to pop back up from it. And breathe again.