Yes, apparently eating candy provides some relief from the skull-crushing stress we’re all feeling because of the economy. Well, you might not be feeling skull-crushing stress, but I am and I know a lot of people who are so I’m going to make this broad generalization.

I’m not a candy eater, although I’ve been known to consume dangerous quantities of Raisinets during movies. But eating candy doesn’t chill me out. So I thought about other small things I’m using to help me deal with the stress I feel about the economy, and more specifically, our family’s financial situation:
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I hate winter.

There, now you know. And please, don’t ask me how I could hate the cold if I grew up in the very cold part of Russia. Yes, the Boston winter is more like spring in St. Petersburg, where I lived until I was thirteen, but it’s still cold, it’s windy, and I am so sick of it. I dread it starting in September and by this time in mid-February I get outright bitter about the bitter cold. (Like my use of bitter there?)
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OK, I am cheating a little because I mentioned this quote in one of my previous blog posts on being passionate about your work. But I read it again today and it’s good enough for it’s own post:

Money is like gas in the car — you need to pay attention or you’ll end up on the side of the road — but a well-lived life is not a tour of gas stations.

-Tim O’Reilly

The other day I was reading yet another article filled with horrid predictions about where our economy is headed and all of a sudden I just started to laugh. It was such an odd thing to do but it was either that or start to sob because of how bad things are. So this quote made sense when I found it:

Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion.  I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward.

~Kurt Vonnegut

My husband and I were at a coffee shop this morning, stealing away a rare half hour to do nothing but hang out before we headed for our favorite spin class together. Our daughter was with my parents (thank you, parents!) and despite the fact that it was negative hundred degrees outside, I was really enjoying sipping coffee, eating soda bread toast and cream cheese, and flipping through the free issue of Skirt magazine I’d found at the coffee shop. (The fact that my husband was sitting across from me didn’t hurt either:)

One of the articles in the magazine began with this quote, which I loved:

There will come a time when you believe everything is finished.

That will be the beginning.

-Louis L’Amour

I’m not quite sure why it appeals to me so much right now, but as they say, it spoke to me.

I really really love this quote, whether during an economic collapse we’re all living through or better times:

Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.

- Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Ooh, I have to say, I am kind of enjoying this weekend quote project. Looking for one is really fun. I actually stumbled upon this one online:

Being happy doesn’t mean that everything is perfect.

It means that you’ve decided to look beyond the imperfections.

-Unknown source

As always, if you have a favorite quote, post it in the comments to share.

I really love quotations. Yes, I am that dork in Barnes & Noble browsing through those thick quotation books and jotting down my favorites in a small notebook. Yep, I am the one who inscribes quotes on the inside cover of books or pretty journals I give to my friends. I have Post-It notes with quotes taped to the printer next to my desk and inside my weekly planner. See, I told you.

For me, a great quote is one that puts what I’m feeling or thinking about into perspective or highlights an idea I hadn’t considered or is just something that makes me feel warm and fuzzy. If it makes me pause for 30 seconds from the insane pace of my day, even better. So I thought it would be a fun weekly feature here on the Work It, Mom! Blog to share some favorite quotes on the weekend — a time when I think all of us crazy busy working moms need to take a short pause.

Here’s my pick for this week
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According to a new study, a person’s happiness doesn’t just have a positive effect on the happiness of their close friends and family, but on people they only casually interact with, like neighbors, colleagues and acquaintances. From the Boston Globe:

Psychologists have long known that feelings can be contagious over short time frames or that people reflexively return smiles. But the new social network analysis showed that that contagious effect extends three “degrees” - as far as a friend of a friend of a friend - and drops off with time and distance.

This makes a lot of sense to me. I had a really crappy day yesterday, happiness-wise. In the morning I went to work at a coffee shop, to get out of my usual routine (which I read you should do when your day isn’t going well). The guy behind the counter was giddy, cheerful and friendly, which at first annoyed me to no end.
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In the past year that I’ve been running Work It, Mom! I’ve made more online friends than I ever had before. And I truly do mean friends — people whom I trust, enjoy speaking with, lean on for support. 90% of our interactions are online, although I must say I’ve met each one at least once — I think that makes the friendship more real, in some sense.
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