Last night I was shoveling and a man who was walking down the street asked me "Don't you have anyone you can call to help you with that?" Admittedly, I was a little indignant at first. All sorts of responses flooded my brain. Like "Oh, you mean like someone with testes? I hear it's near impossible to shovel without them" or "This is the second driveway I've shoveled today. And I'm about to go run 4 miles in the snow. So, no I don't need any help, thank you." But I didn't say any of those things. I just laughed and said "I'm all set, I've got it" and he complained about having to shovel his driveway and his mom's driveway and his sister's driveway and we exchanged some small talk and went our separate ways. Probably his comment was not meant to be sexist, probably he was just trying to help or maybe he was bitter about his own shoveling agenda. But even if he was trying to insinuate that I can't do something based solely on my gender, there's no point in letting it upset me. I don't know this guy. I don't care what he thinks of me. I'm perfectly capable of shoveling snow. I'm perfectly capable of doing a lot of things. Those things are true even if someone else thinks otherwise.
And the thing is, I actually somewhat enjoy shoveling. I mean, at first it's a little daunting. A whole driveway full of snow, packed in all tight near the road and sidewalk thanks to the plows. But then I just dive in and, shovelful by shovelful, it gets done. It's almost meditative in a way, and quite gratifying. I feel like I'm carving out my own little space in the mess, creating a bit of order in the chaos. It's a good reminder that little by little, I can do anything. And it's a time to be grateful. For health, for strength, for all the goodness and abundance in my life.
Lyric of the moment: "Love yourself, give 'em hell. You can take on this world. You just stand and be strong. And then fight like a girl. Oh, with style and grace. Kick ass and take names..."
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