“It’s Not My Favorite Thing”
How this line jumped out and became MY favorite thing on Medium
Shannon Ashley was writing about her daughter.
I’ve never even heard her say she hates anything, like, “I hate pickles.” If I give her a new food she doesn’t like, she’ll just say, “That’s not really my favorite.”
This quote made me smile.
The next day I was stuck in stop-and-go traffic. Yuck.
“Traffic jams are not my favorite thing,” I said. I slightly misremembered the quote. But I noticed that I felt slightly lighter for saying it. Interesting.
A friend shared that she had cancer. Wow, life. How dare you! This is not my favorite thing, at all.
3 Reasons ‘Not My Favorite Thing’ is a great response to life’s challenges
- “Not my favorite thing,” sounds like something you know you can handle. Sure you’d rather skip the ‘not favorite’ items in life, but sometimes that isn’t an option.
- “Not my favorite thing,” reminds me that I DO have favorite things in life. That life will always be a mixture of bad and good and somewhere in between. This thing in front of me is not my favorite, but I do have favorites, like the view from the mountain, a beautiful sunset, hugs, laughter, and more.
- Our brains tend to focus on the pain. If I’m not careful I can become obsessed with the troublesome parts of life, researching my friend’s cancer, and analyzing when to travel to avoid traffic jams. When I say something is ‘not my favorite thing,’ it puts that one item in its place (for me). It helps me see that ‘thing’ as a part of my whole life’s experience.
One Last Note
Never underestimate the power of what you write online.
Shannon was just trying to illustrate the gentle nature of her daughter, but the words resonated with me. I’ve added them to my coping skills and like to think of the mom and daughter who gave them to me.
Thanks, Shannon and Sophie!
Follow The Orange Journal so you don’t miss a post. Do you love to write about self-improvement and personal development? Learn how to be added as a writer here. 🍊
