I forgot to laugh last week. Again.

I chose to swat the bees during the day, and dream about escaping the hive at night. My thoughts and energy normally reserved for problem solving and proactivity instead went towards feelings of inadequacy, frustration, and annoyance. And once again, some good family times were ruined by my emotional relationship with this job.

I understand why people snap. Not in a murderous way- I’ll never understand that. But in a Real Housewives of Somewhere kind of way. With all the crap we deal with on a daily basis, it’s no wonder people in our industry don’t make the news more often.

The fact that we don’t means we are stronger than we think. Other than telemarketers, what other group of people can take rejection over and over and still show up the next day? What other group of people can effortlessly switch hats between being a therapist, negotiator, educator, researcher, best friend, middle man, and voice of reason without missing a beat?

Sometimes though, I get angry. And irritable. And a little cranky. A while ago, I wrote about everyone’s “Inner Jerk”. We all have one, but most of us try to keep it under wraps so we can be successful in this business. Well, my Inner Jerk has been raging just below the surface recently, and I need to remember how to tame it.

A couple weeks ago, our office supply delivery man came in all out of sorts. He was two hours behind schedule, his truck had broken down, and it was a very hot day. I didn’t offer much sympathy because my first thought was, “Did you lose a deal today that cost you money? Did you have to tell your client that their beautiful home fell victim to poor appraising? Or were you blessed enough to still get paid for the hours you worked even though ‘it’s a bad day’?”

What’s dumb about this is while I scoff at his problems, doctors, paramedics, police officers, firefighters, soldiers, etc probably roll their eyes at mine. They are probably thinking, “Really? Did you have to tell someone they had terminal cancer? Lose a patient on the table? Tell them their child was killed in a car accident? Watch your buddy get hit by a sniper?”

It’s important to keep things in perspective. This job we do everyday isn’t life and death. This problem that we are facing right now is just a little bitty blip along our career path. That one deal that is going south isn’t going to make or break us. Sure it sucks. Of course it’s stressful. And yes, it might be a struggle to get through it. But remember this job is just a job. We problem solve and move on. If we fall victim to all the emotions, this job will eat us alive.

My mentor always forced us to laugh when things got tough. He had 45 years into this crazy career, and no matter what it was that we were upset about, he would be sure to share his more horrific (and therefore funnier) experience. On rare occasions, we would be able to throw him a new situation, and he would just start laughing to the point where we couldn’t help but laugh, too.

So the next time you feel overwhelmed and ready to snap, try to find something to smile about. Grin about the absurd. Chuckle about the ridiculous. Giggle about the Crazy. Most importantly, never, ever forget to laugh about this real estate life. When the joy starts to get sucked out of you, remember to laugh. Your family and friends deserve a happy you, and so do you.

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Amy Gilpin, Realtor, Associate Broker, Manager, ABR.

Fourteen years of helping clients. Six years of helping agents. All for this crazy thing we call real estate.
Production Realty 517-879-4141 Jackson, MI Amy@ProductionRealty.com

 

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