On November 26th of last year, I had foot surgery. My second in two years. I’ve written about it quite a bit, because you know – surgery is a kind of a big deal. Especially when it renders you unable to walk for a month.
But this post isn’t about surgery, it’s about sparkle. Losing your sparkle and reclaiming it.
Let me begin by clarifying my definition of sparkle…
- A spring in your step
- Your inner light
- Effervescence
- Feeling vital and vivid and in technicolor
- Your bam, boom, kapow and razzle dazzle (like Superman meets Bob Fosse)
When you’ve lost it, things feel a bit of grey and blah. I’m not talking about depression – more like a lack of pizazz.
So, I have a theory. On that cold and gloomy day in November, the anesthesiologist didn’t just put me in a deep state of sleep – he extinguished my sparkle. Bad anethesiologist!
Here’s the thing about sparkle or mojo or whatever you want to call it – it’s easy to lose. Kind of like a power outage – the lights go out “poof” and then they may flicker on and off for awhile before shining brilliantly again.
We all lose our sparkle from time to time – but how do we get it back?
The golden rule of reclaiming your sparkle is that you can’t force it or will it to come back. I know, because I tried. I really, really tried.
Sparkle is a finicky little bugger – it’ll come back when it’s good and ready. However, there are a few things you can do to coax it along.
Don’t disconnect. Feeling a little blah tends to make us want to tune out and disassociate from ourselves and from others. This is a sparkle killer! Spending hours in front of the TV with your face in a bag of chips is anti-effervescent. Even though you may want to sit on the couch in your flannel jammies for days on end – this will not help. I repeat – this will not help.
Create a delicious list. A what? A delicious list. Write down all of the things that make you feel delicious. The things that energize you and fill you up. My list includes goodies like singing loudly to my favorite tunes, cooking, getting massages, doing nice things for others, chatting with my Mom and being around or listening to people who inspire me. Stuck in an unsparkly funk? Go and do something on your list right now – and tomorrow – and the day after.
Be patient. You can’t force your sparkle. The more you try to force it the more discouraged you’ll become. Your sparkle WILL come back. Maybe not today or next week, but one day.
Don’t lose hope. It’s easy to become hopeless – to think that you’re destined to live in a world of feeling fizzled out forever. Try this – think of a time you landed in this state before. Did you stay there indefinitely? No, of course not.
This too shall pass.