Rotten Tomatoes

Sometimes I envision that life is but a movie, and the critics are all watching to write reviews. We misspeak or 'mess up our line' or maybe forget what our part was in the first place. If we are lucky it might end up in the bloopers where we can laugh at our self, but other times it might just negatively affect our review. Truth is, you will never escape the critics. No matter what you do, no matter how much you try to avoid it, there will always be someone waiting to write your review. At times we get five stars and a really great "must see", but other times we will get one and half stars.

I have at times 'messed up my line' and said things I wish I hadn't or applied a tone that was off putting, certainly not meaning to, but I think we have all been there. I once heard someone compare words that you can't take back to trying to put toothpaste back into the toothpaste tube, you just simply cannot do it. There are also those people waiting for you to misspeak. Can you just picture them, sitting there, arms crossed like, give me your best shot, and no matter what you do or say, or how you say it they are just unimpressed with you? And the Oscar for 'biggest naysayer' goes to. . . There are things we are in control of, and things that are completely out of our hands. For instance those words that come out like the toothpaste, we can control those. Often times we squeeze the tube to hard and then the next thing we know there is just a mess that needs cleaned up. We might be tempted to throw the whole tube at the person with their arms crossed, but I promise, that would be a mistake too. It is so hard to refrain from speaking our mind in moments when we feel we are being backed into a corner, but the only way to avoid bigger conflict and bad reviews, is to wait for the right time to speak. Put the cap back on, set the tube down, and wait.

Funny story. I own a business and I had asked my first customer to give me a dollar bill. I did this because I wanted to frame that dollar and label it as the first dollar earned. I took that dollar with me and tucked it up in the visor of my car. It was there for probably a solid month or better. I got in the car one day and realized the dollar was missing so I started thumbing around and looking under the seats and so forth. All the while my then seven year old son is picking up on the fact that I'm looking for something. He asks what I'm looking for so I tell him the dollar I had tucked up in my visor as I wanted to have it framed because this is a special dollar. He sinks low in his seat and his eyes fill with tears, as he proceeds to say, "I'm sorry mom, I heard the ice cream truck yesterday, and I didn't think you'd mind to give me a dollar so I used it." I was taken aback for a moment, but he was so crushed that he had taken something, one, without asking and two, that had meaning. In the end I giggled a little, and hugged him and said, you know what, it's just a dollar. His remorse was enough repayment for me. I'll never get that dollar back, but I also knew the importance of understanding that he is one of my most important critics. Could I have gotten upset, certainly, but he is writing one of my biggest reviews.

We find ourselves in moments when emotions get the best of us. If you will allow yourself to feel those emotions, hurt or anger, but also let yourself gather your thoughts, you'll find yourself with less of a mess to clean up. You will also find there are some critics that really don't deserve you trying to change their opinion. Decide which critics are important to you, and which ones aren't. Focus on the ones that are. Some of the critics might just be the unquieted cell phone while you are taking the stage. As far as the things you cannot control, give it your best. It will be enough for some, and others will never be pleased. We can only do so much and go so far. You're never going to have a life where every moment was a five star moment. That's okay. If you feel dissatisfied with the previous rating, write your sequel.