Chips, anyone?

“When I get into a complex situation, I ask myself what would Kim do?” my husband, Greg, says to me the other week.

‘What is this nonsense?’ I think and then realize I am in a very fragile state dealing with my mother’s death.

‘He feels sorry for me and wants me to feel better,’ I think.

So, of course I completely blow off his statement.

Then a handful of days later I see an old friend and she says essentially the same thing.

What? (Actually, it’s more like WTF?)

I answer flippantly, “Oh, what, you eat potato chips until you want to explode?”

‘Seriously,’ I think, ‘What is this all about?’ I am a hot mess right now and actually the potato chips answer is true. I am eating them in copious amounts to get through the hospital roller coaster and the days of the services. The only dinner in my house is from food that falls from the sky and bags of potato chips.

So, sure, what would Kim do? Why, she would eat potato chips and depending upon the time of day, drink a glass of wine as big as her head!

Then the days continue and things settle as they always do and I ponder this statement from two completely separate people.

“What would Kim do?”

What would I do?

In typical times, I come up with a plan. That’s usually my go-to. I make a plan. Really no matter what, there is a plan. Depending upon the circumstance, it is detailed or high level, short-term or long-term.

I think back to those crappy days and yep, a plan. I definitely had a plan. I had a plan for dealing with the hospital activity, one for the services, and one for my Dad.

I also had a plan to make a plan for the New Year. I had many plans, in fact, so perhaps in really bad times, there’s a plan combined with the chips.

Having a plan is not a bad thing, so perhaps the comment, “What would Kim do?” is not so bad.

She would have a plan.

But, the chips – those are bad.

So, there is a realization in these statements. There is the realization that when things are good, my go-to is a plan. When they are bad, I add the potato chips.

I am not into resolutions this year as they seem to be beyond my scope at the moment.

Perhaps with this realization, however, I could have a slight behavior modification.

Perhaps, I could be aware that the planning part is good and I could change the chips part. Perhaps the good could be my go-to and the bad could be avoided.

So, for you, in the new year of 2016, perhaps you could realize what your go-to is when things are good. How do you handle complex situations? What is your typical response? Become aware of it, so you can rely on it when things are not so good.

Then think about when things are bad, what is your go-to? Being aware of it in good times may help adjust it in not so good times. Perhaps you could tweak that aspect.

Perhaps resolutions are not the thing this year.

Perhaps tweaking is.

For me, I am making plans – always. In fact, I am making a 6-month one to get me into the summer.

Also, I am ensuring there are no potato chips in my house, because really, there is just no reason to have my kryptonite at the ready. 🙂