A mantra is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that is considered capable of "creating transformation".
Every Monday I will post a new thought, idea, or focus for the week. When you need a breather from life, when you need a little inspiration, or when you're about to jump over the conference table and strangle your co-worker, remember the mantra.
Monday Mantra: Making mistakes is not a bad thing. Sometimes you're making memories.
I recently made a huge, catastrophic, I-should-have-known-better mistake.
It was the best mistake I've ever made.
A couple weekends ago my boyfriend and I went to Las Vegas with some friends. We snagged a deal on Hotwire, which landed us with this pretty awesome room at the Trump Hotel that had my very favorite thing ever- a giant whirlpool tub. Upon first sight of this porcelain beauty, I started hatching a plan to take the Most Awesome Bubble Bath Ever. I had visions of sipping sparking apple cider while relaxing in giant bubbles that smelled of jasmine and awesomeness. The only problem was that Mr. Trump had not a single bubble bath item in sight and, as I don't usually make a point of traveling with bubbles, I was on a hunt to find my most needed ingredient.
My search for bubble bath lead me to a store called Lush. Upon my entrance I was greeted by the most friendly edging on stalkerish store associate I've possibly ever met. My personal space became her new home while she rubbed smelly things (good smelly things, mind you) all over me before I could utter a word of protest and asked so many questions about my personal life you'd have thought we were on one of those speed dating shows. During our precious time together, however, I was able to attain not one, not two, but three bubble bath contraptions that were supposed to explode into magical bubbles bath fantastic-ness upon contact with the water.
Perfect.
On our last night there I filled up the tub, popped those bubble bath bombs in, and waited. I saw no explosion of bubbles, nor did the smell of lavender and blueberries fill the room, as Stalker Lush Store Girl had promised. I saw nothing except my water turning a Smurf shade of blue with some surprise glitter in it that I wasn't expecting. I was quite disheartened at this point, but dreams don't always turn out the way you hope they will (especially when you dream big) so I decided to settle in and accept my fate.
My first mistake was that I had made the water a lovely scorching 150 bazillion degrees. I'm pretty sure my lower left calf may never look the same again. I had already filled the tub pretty darn full, but I had just enough room to add some ice cold water. While I did that, I decided to turn the jets on.
I would like to blame the next set of events on the bubble bath fairy, who must have paid me a visit, because my tub went from zero to holy shit within one minute flat. Now I not only had a tub full of still mostly scorching water, but I had two feet of bubbles on top of it that were slowly climbing the walls like incandescent round spiders.
Remember when you were a little kid and you would make bubbles only to have them pop in thin air a second later? These were not those kind of bubbles. No, these had a mind of their own. These were serious bubbles - lifers - that decided once they were around they were never not ever leaving.
Most people at this point would probably have given up, but I'm not sane like most people. Instead, I enlisted my boyfriend's help to transport the bubbles from the tub to the shower, from the tub to the sink, from the tub to anywhere else so I could actually get in the tub and not have my head covered in bubbles. After about 37 trips back and forth, we had secured space in the tub.
The water was still very, very, very hot so I had to add more cold water. When I added more cold water, the bubbles went away- sort of. They lessened, anyway, which ticked me off. What the?! I hadn't gone through all this work not to have the appropriate amount of bubbles in the tub...so I turned the jets back on. This would be my second mistake.
While the water did finally cool down from scalding to just plain freaking hot, another 37 or so trips were required to move the bubbles from one place to another. While doing this, and almost slipping and dying in the process, we had transformed the bathroom into a full blown bubble room. There were glitter infused bubbles on the floor, the sink, in the shower, on all the towels- everywhere. Finally at the wee hour of 2:30 AM (yes, AM not PM), it was time to relax.
This is where my third mistake comes into play...in a multitude of ways. You see, the magnitude of the bubble products used by yours truly left the tub super, ridiculously slippery. The bottom of the tub was a death trap which now seemed to replicate the frozen glass type qualities of a road from Ice Road Truckers. There was no way a human being could maintain any kind of composure in the tub without somehow propping one foot on the faucet, the other on the wall, and gripping with both hands on to the sides while holding your breath so as not to move one single centimeter. This, my friends, is not a relaxing bath.
Nothing had worked out thanks to my mistake of overdosing the tub with those damn Smurf glitter bombs. All I wanted to do was sit there with the jets going and pretend, for just five minutes, that everything had worked according to plan. You know what turning the jets on means, yes? More bubbles. But at that point it didn't even matter. So I sat there, holding on for dear life, while the rub filled with more of those death defying bubbles, soaking in the last of my Most Awesome Bubble Bath Ever dream at 3:30 in the morning.
While nothing - and I do mean nothing - went as I'd hoped, during this I have to admit I was having the most hilarious time of my life. I could've been angry and irritated at the whole event, but instead I enjoyed myself. I laughed so hard that night that it felt as if my abs and I had joined the military and done 5000 crunches as punishment for failing to salute an officer. It was one of the most memorable and best nights of my life, all because I made a series of mistakes. And I'd do it again, just for the memories.
Next time something doesn't go as planned for you, try and find the goodness in it. Try and see it from another angle. Your attitude towards the situation, towards any situation, is up to you. It can be terrible or wonderful, all depending on how you view it.
Also, don't ever use three bath bombs in a whirlpool tub. I'm just sayin'.
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| The shower, the very LARGE shower, full of bubbles. This was only when it was half way full. Yes, there was more. |
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Image via Imaginale Design Blog
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