Thought of the Day 2/28/13: Optimism Reminder

While walking Charlie this morning I slipped on ice and fell straight onto my right ass-cheek.  I'm talking about the classic, epic, ice slip.  Everyone is familiar with this move; one of your legs flies into the air higher than you could ever lift it intentionally, higher even than you thought physically possible.  I actually fell so hard that I had to lie on the ground a moment to collect myself, Charlie looked back at me confused.

As I picked myself off the ground I was fighting back tears, and I realized that from childhood into adulthood all humans experience the 'boo-boo' mentality that makes us crave comfort when we get hurt, regardless of the amount of pain we feel.  We usually seek this comfort by crying in hopes someone will come to our rescue; a hard habit to kick.  With tears in my eyes, I saw that the only one there to lend me comfort was Charlie, who thought my fall was an attempt at playing so he was hopping about and barking happily; silly dog.  Then, I envisioned what my monumental fall must have looked like from someone else's perspective, and immediately burst into fits of laughter; all while holding my sore ass on the limp home.  I must have looked and sounded like a lunatic.

Interesting Note Regarding the 'Boo-Boo' Mentality: In my experience, children only cry when you worriedly ask "Are you ok?" in a whinny high-pitched 'Mom' voice.  Lots of times my nieces and nephew have fallen or otherwise injured themselves, but instead of reacting in that way I laughed and proclaimed "Nice digger!"  In lieu of crying, they laugh along with me and scamper off to pursue other dangerous endeavors.  If you don't let them think they should be feeling pain, they miraculously won't.  The placebo effect of 'kissing the boo-boo' is another quick-fix in that regard, though this is more difficult to pull off with adults; instead try distracting them with booze, food and/or sex.

In summation, upon reflection of my mishap I decided that I was grateful for two things:

1. I worked my buns really hard during yesterday morning's Piloga session with my co-worker, so my gluts were already sore and injured, meaning my fall was unlikely to inflict further damage. 
2. I'm a generally optimistic person who seeks humor, not sympathy. This is the pivotal difference between allowing the fall to ruin my entire day and taking my pissy attitude out on anyone who crosses my path today, versus allowing it to become a personal lesson in ice navigation and an investigation into the ubiquitous 'boo-boo' psyche.