“Hey! Welcome to McDonalds!!”
I was utterly confused. I was walking into McDonalds and my view of the business front was blocked by a wall. I didn’t think anyone could see me yet.
I walked around the wall and looked toward the cashier counter. A young woman was looking directly at me and rushing to the cash stand, a big smile on her face. She welcomed me again to McDonalds.
She appeared to me to be unreasonably pleased to take my order. She was in her late teens, and seemed kind and positive.
After repeating my order back to me, she asked me to insert my card if I have a chip. As I did so, she started to sing. Just a little ditty. It seemed to be a happy tune.
She offered me my receipt and said, “I will know where to take your food because I have seen your face.”
I couldn’t help but break out into a smile at this. It was so over the top and unexpected. I thanked her and went to take my seat.
It was clear to me that the girl was at least mildly autistic, although clearly high functioning.
I thought about how much of her life could very well be a struggle, above and beyond what most of us go through. In the race of life, she was starting behind the starting line where the rest of us were and seemed unlikely to be able to keep up.
If this reality occurred to her, it was not apparent in her actions or demeanor. She seemed happy and proud to serve her customers. She seemed to take joy from every interaction.
And I thought, why don’t I do that?
Why doesn’t anyone really? Choose to be happy. Choose to be positive.
Now, I’m not talking about the Law of Attraction here, wherein one is supposed to think positive thoughts and by doing so in some mystical way bend the universe to provide good things for them. There is no basis for that in reality.
I am talking about, whatever happens in life, take the optimistic mindset.
The point is you can choose to be down about whatever is going wrong in your life and slog your way through your day if you want. You can be miserable and wallow in self-pity. Perhaps others will even sympathize.
Chances are, though, they will do it from afar. After all, who wants to be around a sourpuss? Suddenly no one will help you or offer a shoulder to cry on, because frankly, you’re a drag,
That is the power of the negative woe is me mindset.
If you choose to do that, you will have company. I hear a lot more complaining and whining about life’s problems than I do gratitude for its gifts.
If you choose to be positive, people will help you. They will want to. They will want to be around you.
Smiles even have a positive physiological effect. The mere act of smiling and thinking positively has been shown to increase endorphins in your bloodstream, which are natural “feel good” hormones.
Of course, you must remain based in reality. Just choosing to be happy isn’t likely to fix any of your problems, much less all of them. You must marry attitude with action.
A “can do” attitude throws away the doubts and imbues in you a belief and confidence in your own resilience and ability to cope. Wouldn’t that be better than sitting in the dark bemoaning your trials and struggles? Or giving up before you get anywhere?
Whatever life this young woman makes for herself, she seems likely to accept and love it for what it is. She will be far happier than most people I know, even if she achieves far less.