The Show Must Go On

Recently  at the Billboard awards performer Celine Dion received the Icon Award. She truly showed her spirit and strength as she performed a cover of Queen’s “The Show Must Go On”. The words were so fitting for what she has endured in the past few months , her husband loosing his struggle with Cancer and her brother passing away in the same week. Yet here she is, back on her feet performing again , just as her husband /manager would have wanted her to do.

As emotional as it was, she fought through tears to give a strong and moving performance, only breaking down when her 15 year old son walked on stage to present her with the award. This woman has suffered so much pain , yet she is picking herself up and showing us all that life has to go on. A great lesson for us all, from a iconic songstress.No matter what life has brought us or will bring us , we must remember to keep going on with a smile. Take a listen of the audio version.

President Obama Video At The Recent Correspondents Dinner

A hilarious video shown at the recent correspondence dinner. President Obama has a last laugh.

 

 

How Much Is Too Much?

 

 

Whether it be your company ,spouse , a child , a friend , an acquaintance or even a stranger you stop to help , there comes a point in time where you wonder , is  this person or this situation  asking too much of me?

For Instance,

My job can be stressful at times , my niceness can be mistaken for weakness most often, I am still engaged in what I do and I still do like the company and love the work .I  arrive early , leave late, finish my tasks on time , work well in a team, do whatever is asked of me with a smile  .

However these last few months have been particularly challenging. Last minute big projects thrown at employees with quick deadlines, little direction,too little staff ,too many jobs,lack of communication, no time to even think and jobs being done hurriedly with no time for quality which leaves me dissatisfied.

3 large events just finished ,a large  event was looming. We were all being pushed to our limits.

Two days before the event , as I looked around ,I saw my co-worker planning to load and unload 25 cases of water , another friend carrying massive poles for an industrial size tent 3 sizes bigger than her , the bookkeeper still recovering from knee surgery , carrying a box of heavy trophy’s ,the entire team moving heavy boxes of magazines, massive tents , bags and bags of heavy ice and so much more.

Does nobody think this is too much? They should hire a truck with 2 men to do this kind of work  for an event right? but no one said a word – just kept on doing what was asked without question.

None of our job descriptions said heavy lifting or using our personal vehicles to transport all kinds of everything! employee cars are scratched and beat up by years of doing this. I pity the two employees that have the SUV”s they get the worst of it. Their cars are filled to the brim and hey,  as a special treat , they get to load and unload it as well.

This being the fourth big event in three months was the one that broke us all.It was an outdoor event for the community with thousands of visitors and rain had been  forecast for a few days before. However we were told to keep telling the concerned vendors and visitors “rain or shine” ! The event was Sunday morning.

Just as I was pulling out a delicious pot roast from the oven for dinner with my family on a Saturday  I got the call from work to come in as soon as possible the time was 7:30 pm  and the company had just decided to postpone the event.  The whole of Saturday went by and the call could have been made earlier.I said nothing ,  I understood the situation went in and worked till 10pm  with a good attitude, as it was an unusual situation.

Despite the late night, the staff was required to  drive around the many surrounding towns  to pick up yard signs and report for duty at a rained out event just to tell anyone who may show up it was postponed. I thought a simple sign at the location would have sufficed.One could clearly see an event was not happening at the venue.

It was raining,  we were wet , very cold and we aimlessly talked for 4 hours and  maybe 5 people came by.  Another co-worker was shivering violently despite wearing a winter jacket  but no one seemed to notice .My feet were frozen , and my nose running  as I sat huddled to my co-worker with a warm blanket we found in her car, I asked myself “is this too much?” Is my job asking a little too much from me now?

When do I say NO ? How much can I take ?

The company is sympathetic “Sorry” and “Thank you’s” are  said but that does not erase what the situation brought me , the lost family time, the insensitivity to all the menial tasks given out  , stress headaches,  and body aches and a dent in my car that now I haveto fix

I am slow to say something as I  am fond of my employers and do like my job , but in this instance I think that  how to get about reaching the goal was a bit crazy.

When you come to that point that you have to ask yourself this question , you know you have reached a limit.

It could be a controlling spouse , an ungrateful child that constantly drains you or a friend that makes use of you , whatever the situation, it is good to stop and think about what’s going on  , did I really sign up for this?

It’s time to speak up .

Let me know if you did something about it and maybe I will have the courage to do so  in my situations.