How many of us feel like every day our life, both personal and professional, more closely resembles the circus than anything else? Think about some of the acts you see at the circus: the high wire act, the animal handlers, even the comedy relief (think 22 clowns in a tiny car), and then think about our daily routine(s).
Most of us are constantly doing the tight rope balancing act of keeping up with work and home responsibilities, report deadlines, daily commute to and from the office, just hoping that everything in motion stays in motion so you don’t drop something important. With just a little imagination, it’s easy to see how this routine closely mimics the high wire act of the circus. As long as the timing is perfect, everything goes successfully, and while leaving us a little breathless, at least nothing (or no one) gets dropped.
I know what you’re thinking, that I got lucky and found a “work/life routine” and that can be made to resemble the circus….
But wait… There’s more.
How about how we have to deal with co-workers, kids, supervisors, and all the other personalities we come in contact with every day. From the morning getting the kids up, around and ready for their day (tell me that’s not as dangerous as putting your head in the lion’s mouth), to the interactions with our colleagues, to meetings and the like. Just like the animal handlers at the circus, we must know how to handle each situation properly to ensure a successful result. Can we treat each one the same, of course not. While the kids may have to do what you ask because you SAY SO, your colleagues may not be motivated the same way (trust me, I’ve tried with very limited success). So, going back to our analogy of how our life is like the circus, we are working with potentially wild animals every day, just like you know what…….
For any of us that have ever carpooled to a district meeting or EPAF with office colleagues, that experience reminds us of the clowns piling in and out of the crowded car in the center ring every time.
What’s my point to all of this you may ask. Well it’s simple. Just like we go to the circus for entertainment, if we take a step back from our hectic schedules, we can probably find some entertainment in our everyday lives.
Featured image by tomozina1 – stock.adobe.com