Hi, and welcome to the new “S” zone. Since the home football game season has closed for this year, I have a new “S” zone for everyone — the stress-free zone.
Life is all about attitude, and your mood is reflected in both your actions and, more importantly, your reactions. Maintaining a positive attitude is the best way to navigate through your day. People associate a positive attitude with high energy and, although that is true, being relaxed and calm contributes to a positive attitude as well.
Sometimes, your attitude, mood and outlook comes from your surrounding environment. The time between finals and the holidays is when my favorite sign in my office is a bright yellow 9″ by 9″ that reads “RELAX.”
All of my favorite things are hung up on the walls of The Park and include posters, quotes, pictures, phrases, and more — all conversation starters. One cannot help but notice that this post office is not just another post office (which is great to hear, because that is exactly what I have tried to achieve over the last several years).
The Park is supposed to be positive, relaxed, calm and fun! My hope is that after my customers leave this office, they carry with them a good feeling throughout the remainder of their day. Maybe it will even inspire them to share their positive vibe with others.
I’ve noticed in the past couple of years a dramatic change in everyone’s “gears.” It now seems that everyone is in a hurry, making them more stressed than ever.
That all stops at The Park.
Not to take any of customers’ stress lightly, but because I am aware of it, I try to make an effort to relax them during their visit. Usually when I flash the RELAX sign, I get a laugh from not only the customer, but also others waiting in line.
The only thing more popular than the look of perplextion, as if they can’t figure out if I’m serious or kidding (usually the latter) is the phrase, “I have a quick question.” First, I flash them the sign: RELAX. Second, there is no such thing as a quick question. Take your time and ask me everything you need to know to answer your “quick question.”
Three or four questions later (that’s right, three or four questions later) they get the answer that they were striving for. I sometimes see the people in line getting antsy, but they know that once they are the person in front, I will give them the attention they need and it will be worth the wait.
If only to slow down everyone’s day for two minutes, to RELAX them, answer a quick question (or three), and to send them back out smiling, that helps me feel positive, relaxed and calm.
As Oscar Wilde once said, “Life is too important to be taken seriously.” Especially now, when the students are taking finals and writing papers, and the faculty are faced with creating and grading final tests and papers…along with the holidays.
‘Tis the season to spread the cheer. Hopefully that means mailing some presents and visiting me! I’ll be at The Park, RELAXing, and maybe putting up a new sign with this quote for the season by Frederick W. Faber:
“There are souls in this world who have the gift of finding joy everywhere, and leaving it behind them when they go.”
