Or, maybe it\u2019s just me? This morning I suddenly realized I\u2019ve been a little cranky lately, some might say \u201cwhat do you mean lately?\u201d I\u2019m not known for being a warm and fuzzy person. While I admit I am really not all that friendly, I\u2019ve always been an introvert and when in a large group of people tend to stick close to my friends because that\u2019s my comfort level – I don\u2019t think I\u2019m really what they refer to a female dog as.<\/p>\n
I do have a reputation in the industry for being a little tough but then most of the women I know that have a rougher exterior often get the same name I get. I don\u2019t think we\u2019re all that bad, honestly in my case it\u2019s because I take everything in life extremely seriously. I take my work responsibilities very seriously which is why I\u2019m a workaholic. I take my family responsibilities especially seriously which can drive my daughters crazy. I still, even though they are adults, monitor every part of their life. I start to worry half an hour before they are due home (ok I worry the minute they leave).
\n\u00a0
\nI place a lot of importance on my relationships with my friends to the point that I fret and become too emotionally involved in their personal situations. And, yes I take life in general very seriously, my responsibilities as a member of society and as a Canadian.\u00a0 I also have a reputation for having rather strong opinions on just about everything, but in my defense I back those emotions up by getting involved. I sat on school council at the girl\u2019s school for many years and was heavily involved \u2013 much to the chagrin of the girls.<\/p>\n
I was actively involved in our Association and sat on the Board of the Ontario Chapter and boy did that create havoc in the industry, felt sorry for all of my suppliers back in those days. It was unfortunate that they were often the recipients of negative feedback about things I had done or said, but I think they\u2019ve all forgiven me by now!<\/p>\n
I was actively involved in a political party for a long time and worked in a couple of elections. I worked day and night for what I believed in, knocked on more doors than anyone else in the riding association, even got the girls to come out with me to help. Probably best that I moved, I\u2019m not sure how many of the neighbors liked me either!\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, what\u2019s my point with all this?<\/p>\n
This morning I got up early to drop the dog\u2019s off for a bath at a new place and had to wait while they did up all this what I felt was useless paperwork. I had already given them all this stuff on the phone when I booked the appointment. Because I had just finished doing some trade shows I had taken down the barrier that keeps the dogs in the back of the truck and all I could think of was if they are in the back seat I\u2019m going to\u2026(you can fill in this part).<\/p>\n
So, I said I\u2019m going to get the dogs and walked out while they were in the middle of doing the paperwork, this guy comes out and says you have to wait until we finish the paperwork before you can bring them in. And, yes you guessed it – my response was pretty rude! As I drove away later I said to myself what is your problem? It\u2019s not his fault you were too lazy to put the barrier back up in the truck. It\u2019s not his fault your dogs are aggressive and don\u2019t like other dogs! It\u2019s not his fault they make you fill in all these forms even though they asked you all these questions on the phone and then didn\u2019t fill in the information. And it\u2019s most certainly not his fault that you\u2019re cranky lately \u2013 although he was a little short with me as well.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll tell you what I believe is making me more cranky than normal, it\u2019s the election! I listened to all the debates and at the end of each one I was angry over what I had listened too. The back and forth, the mud slinging, the not answering the questions that were actually asked but going back to party stand or trying to get a shot back at the last person\u2019s response to a previous question. Back and forth, back and forth all the while my temper is getting the best of me. I start shouting at the TV (as if it\u2019s going to help). I can\u2019t let go even when the debate is finished, I sit there and stew over what I heard and what I disagreed with.<\/p>\n
I go to bed thinking about it and worrying about what is going to happen, I get up the next day and start thinking about it all over again. I read the paper during the day, listen the news before bed, everything is about the election and most, if not all, of it is negative press. And, here\u2019s something to think about, no matter what party any of us supports we tend to support their philosophy strongly. So, we also tend to strongly oppose the philosophy of the other primary party, which draws out all kinds of negative feelings that we take with us. We take it to work, we take it home and we have it with us during much of our interaction with each other on a daily basis. All of this negativity is bound to have an affect on the way we interact with each other, we can try and say it doesn\u2019t but I truly believe it does. Or, maybe it is just me?\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve had enough! I\u2019m going to vote next week and accept the outcome and hope for the best. I am going to stop reading the paper, everything that could be covered has already been written about. I\u2019m not going to watch any more coverage on the TV \u2013 I\u2019m going to change the channel. And I\u2019m going to apologize to the guy I snapped at this morning!<\/p>\n
We are fast approaching Thanksgiving Day and the last long weekend of the year and I\u2019m going think about all the things I am thankful for. I am thankful for the love of my daughters who, although I am very tough to live with, are my reason for living! I am thankful for my friends who put up with all my idiosyncrasies and are still my friends. I am thankful for all the suppliers and distributors in this industry that have supported me throughout the years, even though I know at times I tested their patience with me.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
And I am thankful that ASI came along when they did and provided me an opportunity to continue working in an industry I love, which allows me to serve my clients with better products and services than our little company could ever have dreamed about providing.<\/p>\n
I have much to be thankful for,<\/strong> so let me take this opportunity to say \u2013 take some time during the upcoming weekend to reflect on the things that give you pleasure and provide meaning to your life. And, I would like to extend my very best wishes for a Happy and Safe Holiday with your family & friends.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n Leslie Oesen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Or, maybe it\u2019s just me? This morning I suddenly realized I\u2019ve been a little cranky lately, some might say \u201cwhat do you mean lately?\u201d I\u2019m not known for being a warm and fuzzy person. While I admit I am really not all that friendly, I\u2019ve always been an introvert and when in a large group […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asi-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/asicanada-asicentral.com\/FredLeslie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/asicanada-asicentral.com\/FredLeslie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/asicanada-asicentral.com\/FredLeslie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asicanada-asicentral.com\/FredLeslie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asicanada-asicentral.com\/FredLeslie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/asicanada-asicentral.com\/FredLeslie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/asicanada-asicentral.com\/FredLeslie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asicanada-asicentral.com\/FredLeslie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asicanada-asicentral.com\/FredLeslie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}