Slidin’ on the ice

Life can be hard. Some days you’re rolling along, running fine and feeling like you’re hitting on all cylinders, and then all of a sudden, the next minute life can leave you stranded along the side of deserted highway in the middle of nowhere. Demands, deadlines, bills, and everything in between can drive you crazy.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about life and one of my favorite lines. I picked it up as kid from the TV show MASH and it’s stayed with me through the good times and bad. I’ve always loved the advice that a character from the show, Psychiatrist Dr. Sidney Freedman, used to offer the doctors and nurses when things got to be their toughest.

He would come into the operating room, look around at his friends, who were tired and weary from saving lives, and say, “Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice. Pull down your pants and slide on the ice.”

I listened to an interview with one of the writers years ago and when asked about that line, he mentioned that the doctors’ work was incredibly important, they helped save countless lives, but at the end of the day on things that really didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, you shouldn’t take yourself too seriously. In essence, we all need to know when to laugh at ourselves.

I’m no expert, but I think the keys to a good life are as simple and silly as that: prepare, work hard, and try your best, let the chips fall where they may, it may be good, it may be bad, but life goes on. If I follow that advice and even throw in a little humor once in awhile, I like my chances.

“Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice. Pull down your pants and slide on the ice.”