Al Franken created the Stuart Smalley character for an ongoing Saturday Night Live skit. Before Franken became a U.S. Senator, he entertained as a self-proclaimed guru. He was a man ‘in recovery’ from a lot of self-help groups. He promoted a positive attitude with his daily affirmations. Stuart’s catch-phrase was “I’m good enough. I’m smart enough. And doggone it, people like me.” It was a hilarious shtick.
I read the book years ago. And the part that still makes me chuckle is Stuart announcing in one chapter how he is going to change his life completely. He is motivated to exercise, diet, work harder, love smarter, yada yada. Then on the next page, he reveals it’s a week later and he didn’t do any of it. Instead, he opted to eat a whole cake and hasn’t gotten out of bed for a week.
I’ve been Stuart Smalley-ing this week. I’m sleeping until 7. It’s hard for me to get out of bed. I’ve only done sun salutations once this week. I’m keeping up on my theatre reviews but my personal blog musings has been limited. I haven’t eaten an entire cake but it’s only because I’m too lazy to go get one. I’m not depressed. I’m just wiped. This weather is smacking the crap out of me.
My nose is either running or it’s chunky boog city. Despite absorbing three gallons of lotion, my skin is still dry. I’m scratching constantly and I’ve got an unattractive rash on my elbow. My forehead flakes onto my eyebrows looking like facial dandruff. Rebel fake eyelashes surrender to the elements and poke out weirdly from the crop. One by one, they drop into my vision before detaching completely. I’m wearing weird combos of colors and texture as I layer on the clothing. By the time I travel down twenty floors and leave my building, I have a layer of sweat covering my body. My winter boots are a permanent fashion statement. My office is so cold I don’t change into my shoes.
And I know it’s not just me. A volunteer cried in my office this morning. I got a call from a dejected friend (Get off the damn cleanse!) The cold is making everyone brittle and close to snapping. The unrelenting weather makes everything seem that much harder. Every activity feels overwhelming. I’m mad at myself for my desire to crawl back into bed and wait out the thaw. I’m frustrated that I’m not getting through my weekly To-Do’s much less my daily musts. Do I have to shower?
I had coffee today with Larry, our overnight call center supervisor. He is a published author and modern day philosopher. I asked him about his three top goals. His response, “the most important goal I have is to wake up every day. I figure if I do that I can work on the other two.”
He has such a healthy attitude that I admire and inspire to embrace. Life is hard. We all need time off for good behavior.
“I’m a human being not a human doing.” – Stuart Smalley