Most of the time, I am pretty ambivalent about the unsolicited opinions of others. Now don’t get me wrong, I appreciate good criticism as a platform for improvement, and I like feedback. But some recent comments just made me pause…and laugh.

Friday was a fun day for my department. We were all in the office early so that that we could end at noon and go on a group scavenger hunt around Durham. I am a morning person, so the earlier in the day, the better. Well, some of my employees are not used to seeing me first thing in the morning and were a little unprepared for my energy level. I was talking to a couple people, when one of my managers just looks at me in shock and says, “You are a Tigger, and you so need to take it down to at least an Eeyore level”. This is one I want to use again and again.

Later that day the scavenger hunt facilitator made a silly comment about me, and a coworker near me looks at him and says, “Oh no you didn’t! You don’t mess with the Sarah! No you don’t”. Apparently my Zohan alter ego has quite the reputation in the office.

A couple weeks back someone called me “fat”. I acknowledge that during several points in my life this would have been a justifiable perception. I have never stressed about my weight, but I have certainly been heavier than I prefer. But now? Since August I have lost about 20 pounds and have been working out at least four times a week. I no longer have clothes that fit and I have coworkers demanding me to STOP LOSING WEIGHT. So for someone to call me fat NOW? I really, really need to just laugh this one off.

It was raining last Tuesday so Michael and I ran inside around the track, rather than along our typical outdoor route. The track sits above the basketball courts, which is also where I play volleyball. As we were rounding a turn, I could see some of our players setting up the nets so I waved down to them. After about 2.5 miles, Michael left and I went down to the courts to play. During one of our breaks, a fellow player came up to me and said, “I knew it. I knew you were a runner. I noticed last week that you have the legs of a runner”. That is definitely something that no one has ever said to me before. This is an observation I want to hold onto. This one made me laugh, and more importantly, it made me smile.