Acting like Laura

“It was a beautiful day, don’t let it get away,” Beautiful Day, U2.

My day yesterday started at 4 a.m. and didn’t end until around midnight. But in that long span of time being awake, and trying to stay that way, I experienced a couple of acts of people acting as Laura Bush would. By no means does this blog have to be just about how I am living my life by asking what would Laura Bush do, I will gladly highlight those around me for being Laura Bush-ish. The world needs more Laura Bushes!

Yesterday began with a 14 mile run bright and early with my running peeps. My legs were killing me, but our group prevailed and finished. As usual, off we go to breakfast. Breakfast was a good and filled with our usual talking about anything and everything. When the bills came, before I can really do anything, a running friend pays for mine since we were on the same bill. Now of course I will pick it up next time, but how Laura Bush is that? It wasn’t a special occasion or anything, it was just him doing something nice for someone else. Thanks again!

Last night I get a text from my best friend asking if she can share my blog on her Facebook page. After some discussion, I said I wasn’t ready yet. She understood and said she would wait but she was just so “proud and excited.” I get to many it may not make much sense how I have this blog for the world to see, but I don’t want people to share it. If people find it on their own, please read, but I am still waiting to find my clear direction and formatting before people who know me read it. That might not make sense, but that’s me. Plus, I am not talking about that, I am talking about my bff. The fact that she wants to sing my praises, but respects me enough to first ask me if it is Ok, and then understand when I say no, is so Laura Bush. I told her to sit tight, soon I will be ready for her to share the hell out of it, but thanks anyway for the support. Everyone needs a friend like Laura Bush.

These are just two examples amongst many in the world. Kindness and class are not dead, you just have to look for them sometimes. People will always surprise you, just have faith. And if they surprise you in a negative way and you want to respond, remember to ask, what would Laura Bush do?

Being tested

“Every dog has its day, every day has its way of being forgotten,” What Would You Say, Dave Matthews Band

Well I had a test today and a perfect example of how to act like Laura Bush. I will admit I was not in the best mood this morning. Nothing serious, just an off day. Anyway, I was out running errands and stopped to run into a store. As I was walking in a somewhat angry person was hurriedly rushing out the store and of course, ran right into me. Her drink spilled all over me and things went flying.

The shocking thing was she next began to yell at me. How I should pay attention and blah, blah, blah. I will admit when something is my fault, I am quite clumsy, but this was not my fault as I was paying attention and she was rushing out not paying attention to where she was walking. Now being in a bad mood, I could have easily yelled back. I could have easily corrected her about how it wasn’t my fault and therefore I don’t care. But I didn’t.

I let her continue to yell while I picked up all her items that had spilled everywhere. I nodded as she went on. Then when she was finished, I simply said, “I hope I got everything you dropped, you have a nice day.” She looked at me and then accused me of being a smart ass. Now right here, I really wanted to blow up. I wanted to shout about how her and her attitude are one of the things wrong with people today. What would Laura Bush do?

It took every fiber of my being to not be a smart ass. I simply turned around and said, “No ma’am, I just want to make sure you got everything you dropped since groceries are expensive. Have a great day.” This dumbfounded look came across her face, but then it turned into a smile. She thanked me and walked away.

As annoyed as I was that she never actually apologized for spilling her drink on me (thankfully, I wasn’t wearing sneakers or this may have gone another way), I am happy that I was polite. I really don’t know how Laura Bush does it, but I am glad I was polite today. This woman may never remember this encounter, or tell it differently, but channeling Laura Bush really turned my mood around.

So when something like this happens to you, or you are blamed for something you didn’t do. Stop, breathe, and ask, what would Laura Bush do?

Rejection

“And I won’t stop until you believe it, cause baby you’re worth it,” Not a Bad Thing, Justin Timberlake

Those that are close to me, know that I am pretty much scared of everything. I am not kidding, everything freaks me out. Terrified all animals are going to attack me. Scared of the dark. Scared of awkward situations. Freaked out by mustard and the smell of buffalo sauce. Well, you get the point. I am a big old wimp. I just hide it well sometimes. But of all my fears, rational and irrational (like one night my closest door falling on me while I sleep), there is one thing that scares me more than anything or anyone — rejection. I admit that I have a very crippling fear of rejection in everything I do that it almost will paralyze me.

I have spent a great deal of time working on overcoming this fear. I have made progress. I have been knocked back a few times this past year, but thanks to many long phone dates and BFF nights, I have taken more risks and succeed. I still fail, but it isn’t because the fear of rejection stopped me, sometimes people just fail. So amongst all the steps to getting over this fear, why is it that one simple action can send you back to the beginning? Why does one thing or one person have so much power?

Honestly, I don’t know the answer to this question. But what I do know is how I think Laura Bush would handle it. When someone or something rejects you, how do you handle it like Laura Bush? That’s simple — with class. You get rejected in your professional life, be classy. Hold your head up high, your time will come. Your family rejects you — remember no one says family must be blood, find new people. You get rejected by a significant other — be the bigger person, you deserve better. See how easy it is to be Laura Bush?

Easier said than done, huh? Oh so true, sounds good though. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to handle rejection, some just handle it better than others. You can scream and yell, or you can cry, whatever works for you. I personally handle it poorly. When I start to shut down or pull away from rejection, I will remember that Laura Bush would not be impressed. She would want me to remain strong, and from now on, I plan to do just that.

Tonight I had a much different idea of how this blog entry was going to go. I was going to tell stories of rejection in my life, be all moody, but then I checked social media. When I logged on I noticed I had a new notification. I clicked to see what I had been tagged in and up popped a really sweet friendship quote. It reminded me that the people that matter to me will never reject me. Those I can always count on will never reject me.

Does it get any more Laura Bush than knowing you are loved by many? This blog is proof of what love and respect for others can do for you and the world. So even with the bad luck I have and knowing rejection is inevitable, I will remember what Laura Bush would do and go from there. Wish me luck!

Always being right

“The more things you get, the more you want. Just trade in one for the other,” Right Now, Van Halen

I often wonder how much it must suck to already know everything, to go through each day never learning anything new. To never be accepting of others or their thoughts and ideas. That is not a way I want to go through life. How about you?

Now as Laura Bush, how do you tolerate just such people? The obvious way is to just avoid them. Being told what to think and do constantly gets old, so if you can, just omit the person from your world. But what about when it isn’t that easy? No two people are ever going to agree with each other or everything, a fact you must learn to accept early on. But you can accept others and their thoughts without agreeing with them. This I think people tend to forget.  

Laura Bush has been an example of how to remain classy when faced with someone who thinks they are always right. The obvious example is in politics. Her husband was never agreed with and they were constantly being told just how wrong the Bush policies were. I must say, how both her and husband would handle these people was one of the reason I decided to always follow her character example. No matter what, she would remain classy when hearing everything that was wrong. She would defend herself and her husband, but was always classy. She never flew off the handle, belittled anyone or pointed out how she was right and they were wrong.

This isn’t a blog about politics, I don’t want to debate politics, it is about how she handled herself against all the negativity. How she always held her head up high, remained strong, and was the true definition of grace and beauty. Her husband is still being blamed even today, but when you see her you would never know. I am sure sometimes she wants to just scream, but she doesn’t, at least not in public. I admire that.

So next time I am faced with one of these people, I am going to remember that if Laura Bush could remain classy in the public eye, I surely can remain classy around anyone in my life. I will smile, remain calm and think to myself, what would Laura Bush do?

Judgment

“Cause you see I’m on losing streak, I can't get no, oh no no no,” (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction, The Rolling Stones

Judgment is a tricky thing. I don’t mean the type of judgment that comes from court, as in the “final judgment.” I mean when others judge each other based on silly little things. We can all say that we are not judgmental, but everyone is in at least one way or another. I try to never judge anyone for anything or because they sin differently than me, but I do sometimes find myself judging others after they have judged me. Not so much on bad things they do, but on why they would judge someone else.

Sadly, the world of social media has made it quite easy to judge others based on what they post. Who hasn’t said “did you see what so and so was wearing?” or “I can’t believe they would post that.” It is true that those who post how wonderful they are or something in their life is, never really are that great, but that doesn’t stop people from saying something. Feeding into someone’s desire for attention is all too easy in today’s world. This judgment will always be there as long as there are people that overshare in the world and the fad of selfies. But this isn’t the judgment I am getting at with this post.

The judgment I am going to address is when someone close to you devalues your choices and tries to make you feel small. This is where I really think I channel Laura Bush as I am always supportive of people’s choices. Of course I don’t always agree with everything someone does, as no one would agree with me on everything I have done. But never will I judge someone. I will speak up if something is dangerous to them, but that should be a given.

Unfortunately the past couple of months I have been judged by many around me for choices I have made. I don’t fit the stereotypical girl that believes you must be married to be happy, or rich to be happy. I am happy despite those two things. I believe in relationships, but it is not my end goal. The people I have chosen to be in my life in this capacity are aware of that fact and I am thankful for them. Money has never been a driving force for me, or else journalism would not have been my degree. I made one decision in my life based on money and it turned out to be the wrong choice. I don’t begrudge anyone success in monetary gains, just don’t judge me because I don’t strive for that.

So what to do when someone judges you about your career or personal life? What if that person is “close” to you? Well when this happens it is a perfect moment to ask, what would Laura Bush do? Well she would be classy. She would not let someone else’s opinion change her path. She would listen to what they have to say, thank them, and then continue on her way. This is what I am doing. I am not letting it get to me or cause a smart comment from me. No more getting defensive. Just letting what they say roll off my back and move on. If I can remain classy when faced with judgment, then I know I have channeled Laura Bush and channeled her well.

Restoring my faith

“But something’s bugging you, something ain’t right,” Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, Wham!

Last night I was starting to have my doubts in humanity and the caliber of character people have. It was really disheartening and annoying.

My story starts at the movies. My best friend and I were like two giddy girls super excited to finally be seeing “The Fault in Our Stars.” Young adult book or not, this book touched us both and our sheer joy at seeing the words we fell in love with on the big screen, even knowing we were going to cry, was just too much for us to handle. I am sure her husband was getting annoyed at our constant talking about it and was quite happy we were going to see it (thanks for being super dad so my BFF could get away). We get to the movies and get all our goodies — movie without popcorn, never! As we go to hand the ticket lady our tickets, she rudely says “the line is over there.” Wow, at least be a little nice. We laughed about her poor attitude, but got over it since after all, the movie we had been waiting months to see was to begin soon.

Once in the theater with start time approaching (yay!), I go for a quick bathroom run. It is wise that I always go right before the movie as I swear my bladder is like pea-size. As I am walking back to the theater I am behind two teenage couples. The completely inappropriate attire aside (do they have parents?), I couldn’t help overhearing the conversation. One of the young ladies when asked if she was going to cry said, “No, boys don’t like girls that cry.” I was floored! Seriously? Is this how girls now think? She continued to go on about how girls’ crying is “ugly.” I was speechless.

I go back in the theater and immediately tell my BFF that if her little girl ever grows up and dresses like that or talks like that, I may slap her. Thankfully my BFF said, “If that happens, slap me as I didn’t do my job raising her.” I don’t know why this bothered me so much, but it did. I understand that girls can be overly emotional, but that in no way makes them ugly, or should stop them from crying around a guy. If that bothers a guy, maybe find a new guy. I fear for the human race if everyone is scared to cry. Sometimes you just need to cry. And if this movie doesn’t make you even a little teary, you are a robot and will probably be fine in life seeing as you are a robot not designed to have any emotions.

Now I know I am not the most open with my feelings, but never would I judge someone for expressing them. We all express them in different ways, and all ways are beautiful.

This morning I was still annoyed at dealing with those teenage girls the night before, but a quick stop to grab a soda restored my faith in humanity. I was waiting in line at the local convenience store and the gentleman in the next aisle over realized he didn’t have enough money to pay for what he had. He said “oh, I don’t have as much as I thought.” You could see the embarrassment in his face and it was heartbreaking. Before I could act, the teenage boy behind him handed him the money he needed. I was shocked. Not shocked because someone did this, but shocked at this kid’s age. I would have gladly paid as well, but this young gentleman stepping up without question was incredibly sweet. He restored my faith in people, especially teenagers.

I admit it, I totally judged a group of individuals based on the actions of a select few. That was not very Laura Bush of me. I must remember that there is bad in this world, and bad people, but there is also so much good. So before I get annoyed with someone for having a poor attitude, I will remember all the selfless acts people are preforming right this minute. The actions of others will not change my view on people or the world, and kindness in me will always prevail. Always choosing kindness is one of the many things Laura Bush has taught me.

Exhaustion

“Luck ain’t even lucky, got to make your own breaks,” It’s My Life, Bon Jovi

So last night I believe I reached total exhaustion to the point that I fell asleep sitting up typing my blog. Thankfully my laptop never fell to the floor and my tiny bladder eventually woke me up. This morning once I woke up from clearly much needed sleep, I wondered if this was a sign that I really needed to not take on so much. Between work, marathon training, blogging, school and my actual life, my time and life is pretty much planned up to the minute. Looking at my room it’s clear I am never home in time to clean up (it’s a disaster!).

The problem, I really don’t see anything that I can cut from my routine to make more time for myself. I am trying to apply Laura Bush when thinking of each time suck in my life and wondering what she would do.

Work: Yeah, this one can’t really be cut as I do need to work. Having a job that keeps me on my feet all day is just exhausting regardless. I don’t work full time, but it feels like it most weeks. My class I instruct hasn’t started yet, but once it does it will be another thing taking up time. I am not complaining since I like work and am thankful that I do work, but it still wears me down. As each day comes and more work is added either by picking up more shifts, grading papers, freelancing for local publications, I will just remember that Laura Bush never got anywhere sitting on her butt. She may not need to work now, but she wasn’t always a child of privilege. She did work, and she worked hard. The life of a starving artist is not for the weak, but I have realized the past couple of months, it is for me. The judgment from friends and the world hurts, but I don’t care. Money doesn’t motivate me, happiness does. I don’t have fancy things or all the latest toys, but I do have happiness.

Marathon Training: This takes up lots of hours, but you don’t cross that finish line without training. People that have never run a marathon may not understand the time commitment or why I would stay in Friday night since I have a long run in the morning, but that is on them. Working my schedule to fit in the runs is tough, but worth it. I have the support of my fellow runners and that is all I need. There is no place I would rather be when I am running. Without it, I would be a mess. After all, I do have a goal of 10 full marathons before taking a break and those miles aren’t going to log themselves. Laura Bush I think would understand this love and passion of running and encourage me to get those miles in.

Blogging: Ok, this I also love! I admit that I have slacked a little on daily posts, but I am working on getting better at this. This has already led to many opportunities, so why stop now? Rome wasn’t built in a day. I may have to tweak my routine a little to accommodate getting back on track of daily posts, but never fear, this blog is going nowhere. Of course Laura Bush would encourage me to keep at this, it is after all inspired by her.

School: Grad school classes have not begun yet, but once they do it will take the majority of my time. Not so much because of the amount of classes I am taking a semester, but because it has been a long time since I have been back in the classroom and I am rusty. There is an awful lot of preparation before I even start. I sometimes wonder why I even decided to go back to school, but like everything else in my life, it comes down to happiness. I don’t particularly like school, but I love learning. It will be a struggle, but it will be great once I (hopefully) graduate. When I start to doubt going back to school I will remember how much Laura Bush loves learning and education. She doesn’t know me, but I like to think she would be proud of me when I receive that diploma.

My Life: This is the one thing I have to plan everything around. By that I mean, making sure everyone around me is happy and I do as much as I can when asked. All my life people have been telling me that I need to step back and not do everything that is asked of me. Not attend every function I am invited to, but that is hard for me. I am honored whenever someone wants to spend time with me or invites me to another party. I might complain and be like, “damn another kid’s party,” but that doesn’t mean I won’t be there. I will be there. I do agree with some of my friends that I am taken advantage of since people know I will always be there, but that isn’t a bad thing. I am aware of these people, but it still won’t stop me, it is my character.

People in my life do give me hell for being so busy and not having time for them all day, every day, but this is me. People that accept this fact about me will forever be a part of my life. I will always make time for those people and they know it.

So when exhaustion sets in and I start to wonder why my life and world is so difficult, I will stop and think about Laura Bush. Yes, I may need to say “no” every once in a while, but when I am needed I will be there. And also, try to find more time for sleeping and eating. I think Laura Bush would agree.