Thursday, May 22, 2008

What's Wrong With People?

Have you ever noticed how incredibly negative people are? Maybe you are a negative person yourself. If so, quit it, because it's getting on my nerves. I was out with a group of people recently, and when they asked what was going on in my life, of course, I told them about the house hunting/house finding/house buying/house selling stuff. I told them that after MUCH looking on our parts, that we had finally found a house we were happy with. That got some excitement...until, I started talking about the house. You know, the house we were excited about buying? I heard, "Oh, a pool? Pools are a lot of work". I heard, "Pine trees? They are a lot of maintenance". I heard, "The laundry room is in the basement? Oh, that's too bad. I hate lugging laundry baskets up stairs". I even heard someone say that the town we are moving to is "going to hell". Lovely.

Then, they started to bombard me with their "when I tried to sell my house" horror stories. I sat there, just trying to enjoy a meal that I didn't have to cook, feed an impatient toddler, or clean up, thinking "Shut up! Shut up! Would all of you just shut up!" Sometimes adult conversation is overrated.

Why is it so hard for people to just be positive? Positive about their lives and positive about others? It starts to become like a competition with some people. They have to one up, or one worse, the next person's story. Like if I say, "Oh crap! I just got a splinter!", they will say, "Once I got a splinter, and it became infected, and I ended up in the hospital for weeks!" If I say, "Finances are pretty tight right now", they will say, "I had to declare bankruptcy last year, and my car was impounded, and we lost our house". If I say, "I hope it warms up soon, and stops raining around here", they will say, "When I lived in X, it rained for 30 days straight once, and we had a 6 inch flood in our basement".

I am totally sick of it, but I think I have a plan. It goes like this... If I say, "My stomach has been bothering me a little", and they say, "Once I got food poisoning, and I had to go to the ER", I will say, "I know someone who got food poisoning, and... THEY DIED!!" If I say, "My back is sore from picking up a heavy toddler", and they say, "I broke my back once, and was bed ridden for a month!", I will say, "I know someone who broke their back once, and ...THEY DIED!!" If I say, "I haven't been out to see a movie in a while", and they say, "I haven't seen a movie in years!", I will say, "I know someone who didn't see a movie for years and years, and...THEY DIED!!" That just might shut them all up, I'm thinking.

So, since I am a big fan of P-O-S-I-T-I-V-E thinking, I would like to say this for the record. There are people coming to look at our house on Saturday.

They WILL love our house.
They WILL love our house so much that they WILL immediately make us an offer.
They WILL make us an offer that we are happy with, and we WILL accept their offer (well, probably after countering).
Everything WILL go smoothly with the entire process, and we WILL make a nice chunk of cash from the sale.
We WILL make such a nice chunk of cash from the sale that we WILL have money left over to spend on our new house.
Everyone WILL agree with me that this will all happen, and WILL NOT give me their doom and gloom, sky is falling, what if's, "realist" opinions, and we WILL all be happy and do a dance of glee.

Thank you.

10 comments:

Burgh Baby said...

Jen? Jen from Rants and Raves? THE Jen? You know, the Jen that likes to give me crap for being a generally happy person? Huh.

Well, I see your people whine too much and I raise it a AND THEY DIED.

(Welcome to the sunny side, where occasionally there is something totally worth bitching about, but generally we're pretty freakin' lucky to have all that we have.)

Janet said...

I'm tempted to go back and look at my previous comments to see if they fall into this category, but I'm afraid to because I think they do. So here's the deal. If I make a comment like that, CALL ME ON IT and tell me to get my head out of my arse and lighten up. Thank you.

And the line about "adult conversation is overrated" is what I usually tell the people who can't believe I'm actually HAPPY staying home with my kids.

The Girls' Mommy said...

I know someone who sold their house once and THEY DIED!!

Just kidding. It will go great. Good luck!

Karen said...

With a title like Rants and Raves I would have expected differently. Huh. Let's hope nobody dies.

Kellan said...

YIPPIE for positive thinking!! You know me - you know my motto - ALWAYS THE UPSIDE!!

I don't always see the upside - ya know, but I am more a glass half full type of person, by nature and I hate, hate, hate to be around negative people always trying to bring other people down.

I have a pool by the way - THE BEST - THE BEST - THE BEST - decision we ever made at our house!!!! It is worth any work that goes into it - and it is not all that much - REALLY!! Your kids will love it and you will love that they have it!! And ... laundry sucks no matter where your laundry room is. As far as Pine trees - there are none more beautiful than Pine trees!!

I wish you all the luck this weekend in selling your house. I will be praying and crossing my fingers - keep that positive attitude!! Have a good Memorial weekend, Jen - see you soon - Kellan

Lisa @ Boondock Ramblings said...

I am soooo not a positive person at times, but I hate when people dump all that negative stuff on me when I'm attempting to be positive.

Girl, you have slapped me back to earth and made me realize I need to keep focusing on the positive.

So be positive and yes, it will all go awesome with your house on Saturday!

Anonymous said...

I know way too many 'Debbie Downers' . . . the ones who always try to rain on your parade or to drag you down to feel better about themselves. Awhile back I started making a conscious effort to stay away from those types of attitudes and behaviors - I lost a couple decent friendships because of it, but have to say that in the long run it was worth it.

I myself am not always the best at positive thinking, but I do try to limit my complaining.

Best of luck with the house - it will all work out wonderfully!

Joanna said...

That is my Mom to a tee. I am trying really hard to fight being in the dumps after I'm around her.

But I'm in agreement with you. Your house will sell quickly. I grew up with a pool and big puffy heart loved it. Wish I had it for my kiddos.

JCK said...

Positive all the way!

Shellie said...

I love those retorts! Keep it up!