All in a days work!

Ok, you guys, I am going to blow my own trumpet a bit now. But let me tell you now itself that what I am about to say has a good moral to it!

I received an awesome compliment a few days back. A lady (she is more an acquaintance than a friend). I see her around, as brings her daughter to the sand pit. I am almost a fixture on that sand pit. I am there EVERYDAY! Not to keep an eye on my daughter, but to protect the other kids from her! (Yeah, she gets weird ideas and manages to convince all the other kids that it is the way to go). Anyways, I did chat with this lady a couple of times. I have this way of getting through to people and making them feel like chatting. You will be amazed at the insights I receive on their life at the first meeting! :-D

Back to the lady. She walks up to me as I was chatting with another friend and she says: “Whenever I see Butterfly (I feel really weird addressing myself this way, but please bear with me!), I feel a lot of energy. She has that kind of effect on people.”

Butterfly’s all embarrassed and totally unprepared to receive compliments. If she had told this to me when I was alone, I would have said : Thank you. But there was this other lady around, and I am at a loss for words.

Lady (am so totally unable to recall her name) goes on without realizing that I am embarrassed: “Butterfly, you told me something amazing. It has brought such a change in my attitude. It is very visible to those around me and I have been receiving compliments for the same. I am really happy that I listened to you!”

At this point, I have started turning beet (If that is possible!) obviously nervous at what I might have told her.

Lady: “Butterfly told me that amongst all that I do, I must learn to live for myself too. And from that day on, I have lived a little for myself too. It has changed my outlook completely. I am happier now. I am so thankful to you, Butterfly!”

I guess the lady must have ranted about how there is no time to do anything with caring for her two kids and husband. And I must have given her this advice. I believe in it. I feel that if we do not live for ourselves too, everything else we do will seem like a mundane chore. I tell people that we should do the best in what we were called to do. If it is cooking for your family, do it the best way you can. And at some point in the day, take a little time out for yourself. To maybe just read a book. Whatever. But you must do it.

Also, my everyday life is spent towards making the world around me a better place. In my own little ways. I almost go at it like I am being paid a hefty salary for it! I am focused on improving the quality of my life and those around me. Yes, I do have my moments too, when I feel defeated and depressed. But not for long. My irrepressible spirit fights back and I spring back, happy as ever!

You will often find me carting my friends back and forth on chores. When I head out, I check with people if they have anything to accomplish on that route. I usually have other people’s tiny grocery lists too, as I head to the grocery store. At any given point in time, I baby sit at least 4 kids. There are kids buzzing around me all the time. Though their respective mothers are around, they seem to want to share their stories with me. Half the time I tearing my hair out with all their chatter. Non-stop chatter. I shoo them away and in a minute, they are back. I give up! Many people are often confused as to how many kids I actually have.

My friends refer to me as their ‘F1’ key. Incase people around me have any queries (and you will be surprised at the queries) they check in with me. I am the unofficial : real estate agent, baby sitter, Taxi operator, psychologist, communicator, cookery consultant (and most often, cook too), party organizer (in addition to this, I have to come up with a suitable gifting idea too. And yes, I also buy the gift!), event organizer, motivator, care taker of homes/plants/pets when people take vacation, custodian of keys (I have at least 8 sets of duplicate keys belonging to my friends’ apartments), medical consultant and above all, a friend, to all my friends. While I am at it, I make sure that my home, husband and kid don’t suffer the brunt of my social activities.

One any given day, I am flitting from one cause to the other. My friends know that they can never get a half-baked job out of me. My close friends often laugh at me. They tell me that people are using me. What I tell them is that I am there for people if they need me. I can’t say ‘no’ if people need my help. Most days, I am overwhelmed. And most times, I do not know whether I am going or coming.

I am currently working real hard on a friend who is stuck in a rut. She is unsatisfied with a lot of things in her life and I am helping her appreciate what she has. I am happy to say that she has improved leaps and bounds and seems much happier these days. She is keeping me posted on the improvements and how it is changing her perspective.

I am not professionally qualified in any of the areas I mentioned above, but people rely on me. Because, I give of myself. I am focused on touching people’s lives and what I get out of it is intangible. And that my friends, is the moral of the story. Giving of yourself. There is tremendous happiness in that. If I can motivate more people to do the same, I know that I am successful in my endeavor. That of helping to make this world a better place! It’s worth the try, that’s for sure!

I try and be the change I want to see!