Laughter each day, keeps the doctor away and helps your precisely planned progress stay on path

Although I do consider myself to be among those commonly referred to as a procrastinator, once I set my mind to a task, I'm quite good at following through. Well, most of the time I am...umm...perhaps some of the time...I really do try, and as we all know, there is certainly always room for improvement.

That being said, I consider all that I have accomplished in the last 6 days, to keep myself on track for the next 6 days, is nothing short of miraculous for someone like me. I'm amazed at times at my own capacity for reorganizing my priorities, regardless of the change in plans, and soldiering on to complete whatever is set before me. Long hours, working during lunch breaks and giving up a portion of my weekend, has kept me right on schedule for the coming week.

Last weekend, I honestly thought I had plenty of time to wrap up all my work issues before transitioning into vacation prep mode. Little did I know exactly what was in store....when business and pleasure collide, it can open up a whole new can of worms. However, when push comes to shove, I have been known to transition into a finely tuned version of my younger self. Just don't ask me how the TV got turned off Thursday night or what I ate for dinner (I think it was a bag of pretzels???).

Prior to taking off on vacation, I find myself with a long "To Do" list of tasks, some of which are either never completed or completely ignored. I find a way to talk myself out of a few here and there, then realize that I was a bit over zealous in my expectations of accomplishing everything I'd jotted down. I always say, it never hurts to aim high, and when things fall short, I'm rarely disappointed. The best I can do is learn a small lesson for the next time around....isn't that what this is all about?

As hectic as it seemed at work this past week, I usually have a handle on things and know exactly how far I can push myself to reach my final goal. As Friday rolled around, I found a little humor here and there always "helps the medicine go down" and by the time I packed up to head home, I had laughed myself silly.

It started with a ritual Roger and I share for picking out cards for each other...we find a funny card, along with a serious one, to commemorate special occasions. We both derive great pleasure in making each other laugh, and it was Roger's turn to tickle my funny bone early in the morning. That was just the beginning of a long but rather laughable day...and I continued to bump into giggly situations, throughout the next 9 hours. In the same way that an athlete gets a "high" from running, I often times find myself getting such a rush from a good hearty laugh. Amazingly, no matter what else I have to contend with, it can sustain me for the remainder of the day.

I won't go into detail about exactly what kept a big smile on my face (you really had to be there), suffice to say, we can all find humor in the most inane subject matter, whether it is the silliness of a cute anniversary card, the long overdue task of recording a voicemail message, or someone questioning the dimensions and/or capacity of a simple cardboard box...laughter is always the best medicine when it's necessary to stay on the path of a precise plan of progress...just keep smiling :)