SPECKS

Do you sweat the small stuff? Can a bad hair day send you into a rage? Will a broken nail bring on a tantrum?

Be honest, most of us have succumbed to the temptation to lose control and react badly over relatively minor mishaps.

Those little specks of disappointment can grow into mutinous mountains quite fast.

I used to become unravelled but happily have learned to laugh at these things now. As I age, I am rewarded with a constant stream of hilarity as gravity, grey hair and wrinkles take hold.

When the number on the scales is not what I’m hoping for, I make sure and write in my grateful diary that I’m happy my issue is wanting to lose weight, and not how can I afford the next meal.

I spent a lot of time in my youth unhappy with my appearance. I was thinner then, but I’m smarter now.

Are you able to laugh at yourself?

Some of our favourite celebrities have learned the importance of laughing at themselves.

Read on for a look at the funny side of life when things get hairy.

UNWANTED SPECKS

A stranger once taught me that if you can’t see the bright side of life, look for the specks of happiness along the way.

It all started with the mo. I’m one of those lucky ladies who would be sporting the most luxurious moustache if I didn’t resort to waxing and plucking.

Several years ago my son, with the honesty of an 11-year-old, told me that it was time to get rid of my mo.

“It’s really showing Mum”, he said, just before an appointment with his tennis coach

Needless to say, I couldn’t face the coach – not while I looked like a creature from the Planet of the Apes. Talk about a bad hair day!

I rushed home and literally ripped the hair from my face using wax strips.

Sadly, I was too rough and had only succeeded in replacing the mo with swollen, red skin.

Great, now I had a red mo.

It was still stinging and red the next day when I had to go to work.

No amount of makeup would hide it.

I spent the entire day faking a cough to excuse the fact I had my hand permanently stuck to my mouth, hiding my upper lip.

THE SNOWBALL EFFECT

So stressed was I about the mo that I misinformed several clients about an important date and had to call them back and apologise.

As most of the customers were elderly people with memory problems I felt rotten about adding to their already confused state.

Then I jammed the photocopier and after going through enough paper to tree an entire forest, the machine decided to shut down completely.

While writing appointments in the diary I managed to mix up the dates, which screwed up bookings for two weeks.

By now I had broken the photocopier, sent kind old ladies into a state of anguish and put more liquid paper in the diary than there was paper. Yet the day had just begun!

I was meeting a friend for lunch, but my neck had gone into spasm from the stress so I asked her to drive but use my car as her’s was “always breaking down”.

First stop was the optometrist to get my first pair of reading glasses. As I was ranting and raving about the unfairness of getting “old-age” glasses, completely oblivious to the fact that all the young staff in the shop wore glasses, the adjustable chair I sat in immediately plunged to the ground under my weight.

I quickly realized that bursting into tears could only add to my humiliation so opted for hysterical laughter instead.

My friend had no choice, she was also on the floor, not from trick chairs but from spasms of laughter that left her helpless.

We left the optometrist for some real retail therapy but hadn’t even gone two blocks when my car broke down – final straw!

I was furious and tears of rage slipped down my face as I loudly vented to my friend and anyone else who was near. I was spreading my anger and negativity around like confetti at a wedding.

It was neither glamorous nor responsible.

The road assistance guy who finally arrived looked positively terrified of me. Craziness can have that effect.

FINDING SPECKS OF HAPPINESS

It was the auto electrician who served us, however, who eventually put things into perspective.

He saw my hysterical state and told me not to sweat the small stuff.

He said he’d virtually had no sleep the night before as his newborn daughter never stopped crying. On top of that, many parts he’d ordered for his business had not arrived and he was going to have to face angry customers who would have to wait longer for the return of their cars.

“When it gets too much, I think of my son,” he said.

“He is six and has cerebral palsy. He is the light of my life and has taught me not to sweat the small stuff”.

With those words, all that mattered in life became crystal clear.

That wonderful auto electrician not only saved my car but also rescued me from a downward spiral that could only end in calamity.

I had allowed a minor physical blemish to send me into a spiral of anger and anguish while forgetting how very many things I had to be happy and grateful about.

THE BRIGHT SIDE

I immediately started to look for the specks of happiness on the horizon.

I started with the obvious, my family, my friends, my fixed car.

Even my work mistakes had bright specks. I could be happy in the knowledge I was helping to keep the photocopy repairman in business, not to mention the company that makes liquid paper. The clients had the pleasure of speaking to someone who was even more bewildered than they were.

Of course, it was harder to find that speck of brightness when it came to my mo unless I counted all the bright red specks above my lip.

I keep thinking of the old joke: “Does your face hurt? It’s killing me.”

Anyway, if in telling the tale I can make people smile then I guess that’s more than a speck, it’s the bright side.

Wishing you lots of laughter and a gleeful week, Tamuria