Spinning Dead Possums
Question: When is finding a dead possum inside your wall a good thing?
Answer: When you’re expecting to find an entire family of dead possums inside your wall.
Actually, that’s not a joke. It’s a scene from an episode of This is Us - the family saga that Fran and I are still not done binge watching. We’ve reached season four, but only after repeated breaks, during which we had to watch happier, more upbeat things like Schindler’s List and Old Yeller. Seriously, we did put the show on hiatus for a while because, given the “difficult circumstances,” “unprecedented times,” “challenging events” that have been raining down on the world like the plagues of Egypt, we weren’t really that interested in watching and weeping, night after night, sitting there helplessly as the Pearson family went down the television toilet. Things were already tough enough without worrying about whether or not Kevin would fall off the wagon again (Spoiler alert: He does.), Rebecca would EVER get over the death of her husband, Jack (‘Nother spoiler: Nope.), or if things would finally start to smooth out for poor Kate (Wait for it... Of course not!). This program is the perfect combination of somber storylines, tragic events, and sadder-than-sad music. It’s a cry-fest!
Left to right: Jack and Rebecca, Kate and Toby, Kevin, Randall and Beth.
So anyway, last night, we decided to get back in there and try to push through so that if season five ever actually gets made, we’ll be ready. With a margarita in one hand and tissues in the other, we told our Xfinity voice-command to load it up.
To our surprise, in the midst of the tangled soap opera of blind babies, drunken uncles, failing marriages, homosexual children, and undercooked game hen capable of giving everyone food poisoning (I am not making this up!), there was a not-heartbreaking, downright humorous scene that I just have to comment on.
Let me set the stage for you: Randall, one of the three Pearson kids, now grown, is married to Beth. Beth recently lost her high-paying job as a highly-paid something-or-other and is now pursuing her long forgotten dream of being a dancer. Actually, she’s opening her own dance studio because she’s too out of practice to do that much dancing. But the important thing is that they finally rented a facility for her studio, scheduled and promoted an open house, and are about to set up for the event. That’s when things go unexpectedly sideways. (Although, on This is Us, sideways is kind of the norm.) As they enter the building, they are met by a stench so horrid that they have to cover their mouths to keep from losing their lunches.
It smells like death - literally. Like something died. A rat, they hypothesize. Which motivates them to call in a professional. When the exterminator arrives and assesses the stench, he prepares them for the worst. From the severity of the smell, he tells them, it’s probably an entire family of rodents.
You see where this is going now, right? Upon inspection, the exterminator locates a dead possum in the wall. Bad news: there’s no way to get it out. Good news: there’s just one possum.
It’s been raining possums!
It is at this point that something un-sad, hilarious, and meaningful takes place. Beth, giddy with relief and excited that things aren’t as bad as she feared, beams a huge smile at Randall and says, brightly: “It’s only one possum!”
Come to think of it, a rim-shot would actually be appropriate here because it’s the first time in recent memory that an ion of positivity, much less comedy, has managed to be emitted by this program.
What I appreciate most about that scene, aside from the all-too-brief reprieve from depressing drama, is Beth’s enthusiasm. She has a dream and even a hyper-crappy situation isn’t going to keep her from attaining it. To that end, she’s willing to put a positive spin on anything - even a dead possum.
As many of you are aware, the dead possum I have been spinning for that past few months is unemployment. That’s in addition to the pandemic possum we’ve all had to juggle, not to mention the civil unrest and sudden outbreak of insanity in the streets possums.
It’s been raining possums!
However, that’s not an excuse for being pessimistic. No. We can still spin this menagerie of rotting marsupial mammals and not only survive, but actually chase our dreams.
To accomplish this feat, we have to do what Beth did: smile in the face of ridiculous circumstances and figure out how to hold on to the goal we’re reaching for. There’s got to be an upside in there somewhere, right?
The key here is enthusiasm.
When I was spinning my joblessness possum, I began writing ENTHUSIASM! in red sharpie at the top of every cheat sheet I developed for my interviews. All the online get-a-job gurus vowed that enthusiasm was as important as skills and experience to an employer. So I told myself, willed myself, and prodded myself with intimidating threats, to be enthusiastic or else - no matter the position or the organization because my dream was to avoid living under a bridge. And I was holding on to that dream!
After getting hired (let us all pause here and sing the chorus of the Doxology), I realized that by being enthusiastic in the interview, I had made an implicit promise to my new employer. In our negotiation of payment for services, I had basically guaranteed them that I would bring a high level of energy to the job. Anything less, and I would be guilty of false advertising. So I printed out the word ENTHUSIASM! on a fresh sheet of paper and put it in a prominent spot on my desk. It’s waiting for me there when I start work each day, reminding me of what I need to do: just bring it!
“Enthusiasm is the electricity of life. How do you get it? You act enthusiastic until you make it a habit.” - Gordon Parks
Coincidentally, the same day that we watched Beth spin her possum, I also discovered this great quote from Gordon Parks: “Enthusiasm is the electricity of life. How do you get it? You act enthusiastic until you make it a habit.”
Granted, the company I am now working for is awesome and everything is so new that it’s easy to be enthusiastic. And there’s also the humongous relief factor of knowing that, for the moment at least, we can keep the house! But I’m finding that the little note on my desk is fostering a habit. Each morning, after a brief Rock moment (see last blog), I’m ready to enthusiastically interact with colleagues, and get my work done with excellence and efficiently.
I think Gordan Parks was right. Enthusiasm is like a muscle that you have to exercise and flex. You have to keep developing it until it becomes part of you. I also think Beth was practicing that type of enthusiasm when she recognized that a single dead possum is better than an entire family of dead possums.
Now we just need to apply this simple technique to our world. It’s full of dead possums. But we can’t let them steal our dreams. Start spinning!