Happy endings are made better by power ballads by Bryan Adams, dancing around a table invigorates the soul, and in any given competition you can make your soul mate fall for you if you remain aloof and uninterested. How strange and yet familiar all those things are. It’s as if I’m looking into a mirror of my life right now. Ah yes, it’s the rom com staring me and Mr. Unemployment — dancing around the table and all. Unfortunately for me, my movie has stretched past the widely accepted hour-an-hour running time to encompass much of 2009. Gary Marshall really should do a number on it in the editing room. Too bad I’m still without a girl-makes-her-mark-and-gets-a-stellar-job proper ending. I need to be schooled by romantic comedies 101.
Avoid the flash: You see the raven locks from across the room and your eyes meet. Smoke is in the air. This means trouble. Sure, they are flashy, seem smart and maybe they even sparkle in the sunlight, but you know where this will end up after your ten dollars and hour-and-half movie experience — no where. If I learned anything from watching romantic comedies, avoid the flash, and the same could be said about finding the right job. Stick with your intinct and your gut. Be true to yourself. Times are tough but saying no to a job that doesn’t fit you will leave you happier, healthier and with far less relationships issues in the end.
Accepting yourself: What would any good Reese Witherspoon, old-school Julia Roberts or Amy Adams jaunt in romantic comedies be with out the heronine (or hero, ahem Patrick Dempsy) be without learning to accept oneself full of flaws and all. I’ve been working on this lesson for years now. We all want to be perfect and popular, to have the best things or at least be best at something. It’s not comfortable, or dare I say even fun, to take a hard and long, drawn-out look at yourself, but to get that happy ending with the birds, the blowing of bubbles — or rice if we are going for a retro film — we have to accept what we are good at and what we want. I like making a list and putting things in order of importance.
Letting go of the past: For my toxic relationship to end with unemployment, I need to let go of my past work-related relationship issues. The ones that tell me that I wasn’t good enough for the jobs I had in the past, the signs I could see a mile way (in retrospect) and how I’m not good enough for anything. For my romantic comedy to end happily, I have to put those ex’s on the last train to Clarksville and skip the meeting at 4:30. It’s slow coming. You want to be able to learn from your mistakes or missteps and move on, but it’s when you hold on to the pain of your perceived failure that causes you to stand still. I know this all to well. I’m still working on getting my quirky-bff-next-door neighbor-fix to getting over the ex-jobs once and for all.
Once I ditch the exs once and for all and leave myself open for accepting employment, I think I’ll be good. And for any naysayers, power ballads do make everything happier. Just be sure to move away large obejcts from the table for the best experience at dancing around it.
