I kept scratching the side of my face. I wanted to leave it alone, but I couldn’t help it.
I also knew that if could somehow stop scratching, it might scab over before my important meeting the following morning. If it did scab over, then I could put some makeup on it and cover up the redness. That would help my face look relatively normal. I put my hands in my lap and visualized a successful meeting. I pictured myself shaking hands, smiling, receiving a tour of the office, and making an overall good first impression. But while I was visualizing, my hand had quietly crept up the side of my face and I was scratching again. Damn.
The previous Sunday, my family and I had hiked through our friends’ farm, looking for a Christmas tree that we could cut down. We found one that we all liked in record time. Then we checked it for both bird’s nests and praying mantis egg pouches (you don’t want those hatching in your house on Christmas Eve!) both of which automatically disqualify a tree from being brought home with us. We did NOT check it for poison ivy vines. Therefore, we could not have noticed the delicate one wrapping up its trunk. My husband cut the tree down while I held it up by its infected trunk, and then we took turns dragging it back to our minivan. We lifted it up onto the roof rack, tied it down, and drove off without realizing that my gloves were covered with crud. And at some point during that ride home, I must have brushed my hair off the side of my face with my poison ivy-covered glove.
As I sat on the carpet in one of the Sky Harbor Airport gate areas scratching, I realized how much my appearance had affected my self-confidence. Normally I travel in my business attire and I feel pretty good about myself. But on this day my hair was pulled back because it made my face itch when I wore it down. It had seemed ridiculous to bother with makeup when the side of my face looked like I’d been kissed by a hot iron, so I had left it off. And since it was a travel day and not a day of meetings, I had on jeans instead of a suit. This combination of crud and casual look made me slink though the airport avoiding eye contact with everyone, and I sat on the floor rather than have a fellow traveler next to my oozing, throbbing face.
Of course, I know that my attitude is completely in my own hands. I may not be able to cure the poison ivy before my meeting, but I certainly have the power to control how I react to it. I can sit on the floor and mope, or I can take my rightful place in one of the gate area chairs and start preparing for my meeting. I stand up, brush off my bad attitude, and sit in the closest open chair. There is a person seated next to the cruddy side of my face, so I make a bet with myself. If he moves, next year the family buys an artificial Christmas tree from Wal-Mart. If he stays, then we go back to the tree farm and add poison ivy to the list of things we check for before cutting a tree down.
He stayed.
Tags: balancing work family, personal development, self development, Successful Living, women and business
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