Last year I wrote a post after a random encounter with a Spiderman character in Times Square. Being 5′ 10″ and having always been the tall friend or the big friend, I’m not someone who likes to be picked up by people. That sticker on mirrors, “Objects may appear smaller than they actually are” has been true for my weight, so the idea of uttering it aloud or having someone feel it by lifting me is just, well it taps into every insecure, awkward emotion from high school.

Not something I’m proud of, but it’s there. When this guy persisted in trying to literally pick me up in, as hard as this is to believe, a totally non-creepy way, I finally thought, “What the hell? If he can’t lift me, the world won’t end.”

Then he did and I laughed, like a deep, down in my belly laugh and as it mixed into the raucous sounds of Times Square I suddenly felt like so many of the things I fret about are utterly absurd

 

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I wanted to re-post the essay her because sometimes we all need a reminder to lighten up.

Do you have a favorite pick-me up or lesson that you have to relearn with annoying frequency?