Mary had lost her only set of car keys for 4 days, having looked high and low - they were nowhere to be found. Finally, they surfaced - they were hooked onto a reusable grocery bag in her laundry room. "I am so relieved!" she said.
The day I hit "send email" to submit the book manuscript of the history of Little Italy to my publisher, I sat down and actually cried. Such a RELIEF. It had been nine tedious months of writing an enormous research project, and the book was finally off my desk.
Walking Lupini a few days ago on the Jersey Shore, a skateboarder whizzed by, and my pup lunged at him unexpectedly. The skateboard barely missed Lupini's head - which could have been catastrophic. I cringed in relief of the near miss.
RELIEF. It comes in many, many forms. It is a positive emotion, the release of anxiety we're holding in. It is often a pleasant surprise or reassurance. We can feel happy because something unpleasant is no longer happening - or has not happened but we worried it might. Relief can be emotional, physical, or psychologically based.
What are some ways we find relief?
- getting to that long-awaited vacation
- popping Advil to rid a headache
- pooping
- sex
- crying
- laughing
- exercising
- scratching an itch
- cracking your back
- jumping into a cool pool on a steamy day
- finding the solution to a problem
- getting past that "near miss" in traffic
- avoiding an unwanted outcome
- a clear test result at the doctor's
- finding a bathroom in public :D
- graduation day!
- journaling
- purging your house / closets of excess stuff
- watching a loved one getting the help they need
- finding a lost item
- paying the last payment on a mortgage or car loan
- screaming!
- finishing a major project
- writing a letter of complaint (and not mailing it)
- fill in the blank __________________
Whatever relief you need - go find it.
And then feel free to shout your choice of a sigh of relief:
“Finally!”
“Hooray!”
“Phew!”
“Whew!”
“Whoopee!”
“Woohoo!”
“Yes!”
"Woooot!"
"Yippee!"
And my personal favorite ... "Yabba-dabbo-doo!"
