This stressed-out zinger comes to us when Wilbur is in an old ambulance a bunch of mice are using as a hospital. He managed to throw his back out while he was picking up Miss Bianca and Bernard's suitcases. In this scene we find out that Wilbur has a terrible fear of needles and doctors. The doctor tells him that he needs to relax and Wilbur tells him this in reply.
No matter how you slice it, this quote is one that suggests you're not as relaxed as you could be and feel like the only time you'll be truly relaxed is when you're dead. Have you ever been told to relax when you felt like you couldn't no matter how hard you tried? How do you cope with trying to relax in a stressful situation? Perhaps, like Wilbur, you're being forced to confront a fear or two and you can't get around it, like say going to the doctor. Do you stay wound up tighter than a buffalo drum or can you hide how nervous you are long enough to get through things?
I'm not going to lie. I'm a lot like Wilbur in the sense that going to the doctors makes me more nervous and jumpy as a pole cat. So does being around needles that aren't sewing needles among other places and times. Weird I know. I've found that if I need to relax or calm my anxieties about things, I use the 5-4-3-2-1 method of calming down. I'm pretty sure if Wilbur knew this method, he would have been calmer. It may help you as well. What you do is find 5 things you can look for, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell and 1 thing you can taste. I've had to use this on multiple occasions. So I know it works. I usually end up forgetting the actual 5-to-1 things and end up finding 5 things I can see, 4 things I can touch, 3 things I can hear, 2 things I can smell and think of 1 positive thought.
Another thing I use, especially if I'm driving and stuck in rush hour traffic, is putting on Billy Gilman and Mattie J.T. Stepanek's 2003 song "I Am/ Shades of Life" and focus on looking for the diffrent colors and singing along to the song. The chorus is perfect for recentering and de-stressing because it has the perfect melody (upbeat yet relaxing) and tells you where to look with a wonderful message.
This is the chorus:
"The color of sky
Is blues and grays
The color of earth
Is greens and browns
The color of hope
Is rainbows and purple
And the color of peace
Is people together
Shades of life"
As I look to the sky and the earth, I can almost always find those colors. If I'm really lucky, I get to see rainbows and double rainbows! That song, written by Mattie J.T. Stepanek and sung by Billy Gilman, has a great message that we as people are many things and the only way to live in peace is if we all come together as one. I'm not sure if, when Mattie first wrote I Am/Shades of Life, he knew that it would help people in the way it has. It's not a well-known song, yet it's one that I feel more people should hear. If you'd like to watch it, the video is here on his mother's YouTube channel. Hopefully it will help calm you as it does me. Are there any types of music that you listen to that helps recenter and relax you?
So until next time, try to stay as relaxed as you can and Keep Cooking with Character!
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