I love people. I love getting to know them and understand them and figure out their quirks and what makes them tick. It’s my passion, and it also makes me really good at my job.
With 46 years of this passion for people under my belt, here’s what I know for sure:
We are all a little bit nutty.
If ever there were a time to relish in our collective nuttiness, I think it’s now.
Thinking of ourselves as “being nutty” can give us a reason to smile, I think. Even the word “nutty” makes me giggle a bit…and then my thoughts turn to chocolate with “nutty” centers and I get particularly gleeful.
But I digress.
To be clear, when I think of the nuttiness of myself and those around me, I do it with fondness. Sure, there are times when my husband’s nuttiness makes me exhale sharply, or when my kiddo’s nuttiness causes me to roll my eyes behind her back (mimicking her particular brand of teenage nuttiness). But when I sit down and think back to those experiences of frustration or annoyance that can sometimes result when faced with another’s nuttiness, when I have caught my breath and really ponder it, I smile to myself.
Our nuttiness makes us who we are. And I love who we are.
My nuttiness right now takes the shape of moving random pieces of furniture around at odd hours of the night.
(I am really doing this in an attempt to feel some control in my life.)
My eldest’s nuttiness has her baking non-stop. We’ve so many freakin’ baked goods in our home that we could legit open a bake shop…except it’s not an essential service…so we actually can’t. She’s seeking solace from the chaos in her world by doing something she loves: baking and providing food for those who are important to her. She’s doing it to make herself feel better.
My neighbour’s nuttiness has him aerating his lawn, despite the fact that we have a lawn care company in our complex that we actually pay to do this for us. While I am not sure exactly why he is doing this, I know that it’s an attempt to manage something, to feel some way.
One of our clients told me that her nuttiness has her cutting everyone’s hair. Apparently she even cut the hair of her cat, who is, by the way, short-haired already! When I inquired, she said that she’s really doing this as an act of service to her family, but that trimming the cat’s hair was more about trying to manage her obsessive need to DO something.
My point here, dear reader, is that even in the best of times we are all a little bit nutty. And right now, sometimes our “nutty” is running the show.
I say embrace it. What the heck? Why not? No one’s coming over to see the weird furniture placements I am coming up with and Lord knows I will eat every baked good my kid churns out, so there’s no need to worry about waste.
I also say it’s a good time to be compassionate about others particular type of nutty.
If that means they need to wash the floors every 20 minutes? Let ‘em.
If that means they are checking the stock market right before bed and then again on waking? So be it.
If they’re losing their crap and screaming like banshees? Pass them a pillow to punch.
And if it means they are breaking down and sobbing full-out on a team meeting on a random Monday morning like I did last week? Then, like my team did, just hold space and then ask what you can do to help.
It’s okay to be nutty, my friends. Even if it makes others around us a bit nutty in return. At the end of the day, those who love us actually love our nutty, too. If it’s true what they are saying, that we really ARE all in this together, then we’re going to have to be really together, nuts and all.
Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash