Spin Cycle: Word of the Year Part Two

So, if any of you were paying attention, last week, Ginny Marie and I asked all of our Spin Cycle participants to choose a Word of the Year. I chose LASER. For an explanation, please click the link. I must say, I'm doing pretty well with it. Trying hard to keep my laser beam focused on my priorities. I've written every single day and have lost 6 pounds (okay, must admit that 3 of these pounds were the result of 48 hours of stomach flu, but still...).

This week, for WOTY Part Two, we're choosing ANOTHER spinner's word, and sharing what that word means to us. I have chosen Janice's word - REFRESH. And man, do I need it. While I certainly could use something refreshing for both my body and soul, and I always enjoy some refreshments, I'm choosing to use the word refresh in this way...

 

That's right, a Refresh Button

 

Often in my life, I find myself becoming overwhelmed with anger or frustration or disappointment or fear or all of the above. I will obsess on something and get myself all worked up and I just need to stop and hit the...

 

Refresh Button in my brain.

Examples -

GRETCHEN'S INTERNAL MONOLOGUE

Oh look. Jimmy has unloaded the dishwasher. Are the pots

and pans in the right places? Noooooo. Are the plastic bowls in the

right places? Noooooooo. Why. Can't. The. Man. Remember. Where.

Anything. Belongs?????? I guess I just have to do EVERYTHING

myself! Poor meeeee!!!

 

 

GRETCHEN'S REFRESHED INTERNAL MONOLOGUE

Oh look, Jimmy has unloaded the dishwasher. Hurray!

 

......

 

GRETCHEN'S INTERNAL MONOLOGUE

Oh look, I am out of commission for 48 hours and during

that time, Jude forgot to do a homework, studied poorly

for a science test and forgot his lunch at home three times!

The child is completely dependent on me! He can't do

anything on his own! I'm doing him a terrible disservice

by being there for him! I'm a terrible mother! He's going

to grow up and live in our attic forever and never have a

wife and never learn how to do his own laundry and I'll be

cutting his meat until the day I diiiiiiiiiiie!!!

 

 

GRETCHEN'S REFRESHED INTERNAL MONOLOGUE

Oh look. Jude is 10. Jude is a boy. He forgets stuff. He will learn.

Hurray!

 

.....

 

GRETCHEN'S INTERNAL MONOLOGUE

Oh look at you. You are fat. Fat, fat, FAT! Eeeeeek! How did

you get so FAT? You eat too damned much! Pathetic.

You are fat and pathetic. And OLD! You are fat and pathetic

and old! You will never fit in clothes again! You will never

be attractive agaaaaaaiiiinn!!!

 

 

GRETCHEN'S REFRESHED INTERNAL MONOLOGUE

Oh look! I have lost 6 pounds! And I haven't even been

dieting. I've just been exercising and eating healthful and

nutritious foods and drinking lots of water! (and vomiting, but

we won't focus on that) Hurray!

 

.....

 

So you see how this REFRESH thing can work for me.

I think I'm going to go print out that Refresh button picture and stick it on the cabinet in the kitchen next to my LASER acrostic.

And maybe a nice refreshing vodka tonic might be nice too.

_____________________________________

 

Don't leave without checking out the other spinners Word of the Year Part Two. Whose word did they choose?

 

 

 

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Comments

[Ginny Marie]

I love this, and not just because we picked the same word! ;) We must be on the same wavelength! And oh, does that last part mean you had the stomach flu this week? Several of my students were throwing up this week, and I am praying I don't get sick. I hope you feel better!

[This Busy Life]

I love the idea of a refresh button for the way I think. I often could use one. How awesome it would be if my thoughts automatically went to the positive rather then the negative. Perhaps with enough practice.....

[VandyJ]

Keeping it positive is not so easy. Takes some effort, but will produce great results, something I need to remember, especially after Nick cooks or tries to do dishes.
Truly, why can't they put anything away?? In my case, without rearranging for his convenience? Cause, you know, he cooks so often.

[Janice Adcock]

Love the refresh button idea. Aren't we fortunate to have husbands that will empty the dishwasher. Makes for some fun games of hide and seek.

[Kristina Walters @ Kris On Fitness]

That's awesome! I love them all. It's too easy to listen to the "noise". A simple refresh button really does the trick. Don't worry about Jude. My oldest is doing his own laundry now. It only took him until 19 but I still consider it a win!

[Angelina Costenaro]

I like how you "refreshed" your thoughts. It reminds me of something I learned in my sociolinguistics class during my master's degree. Our world shapes our words , and our words shape our world. For example, the Inuit people have many more words for snow than we have in English. That's because we don't have to deal with snow all year round like they do. Therefore, I don't see as many types of snow as they do. I don't have the vocabulary for it.

In other words, the words that I have shape the way I see my world. Therefore, if I change my words, I can change how I see the world!