Everyone loves a good underdog story. Whether it’s “Legally Blonde’s” Elle Woods finishing Harvard after her ex-boyfriend, Warner, said she wasn’t smart enough, the great Russian defeat dubbed the Miracle on Ice at the 1980 Olympics or Britney Spears having a successful career after a tumultuous 2007, there is just something uplifting and romantic about the underdog winning.

We undeniably all face our own battles. Whether it is with weight, career, love, friendship or even our own self-worth, there are days when we all find ourselves smack dab in the middle of our own underdog story. How do we come out on top? Mariah Carey didn’t let her trainwreck of a New Year’s Eve performance slow her down, she merely said “shit happens” and moved on with her life. I found that oddly inspiring. This doesn’t mean that I will be Instagramming pictures of myself in fishnets at the gym anytime soon, but it does mean that it might serve me well to take a page out of Mariah’s playbook.

I have never been the type of girl to just say “shit happens” and carry on with my day. If something goes bad or not as I have planned, I dwell on it. My name is Melissa and I am a dweller. I analyze every moment, dissect every detail and stress about all of it. When it comes to making mountains out of molehills, I am queen of the moles. It’s time to be less mole and more Mariah.

Recently, I found myself in a predicament where someone very close to me asked me a very simple favor. Without getting into too much detail, as it is a private family matter, instead of just saying yes, I questioned the reason behind her request which caused a big eruption between us. I got defensive, she got defensive and in the end, we are now unnecessarily at odds.

There was no reason for this to be an argument. I should have just said yes and moved on, but I didn’t. I made something out of nothing and in fact I am still letting it bother me. I need to just stop. In five years will this fight matter? In five months will it still be an issue? No. Then why am I losing sleep over it? From here on out, shit happens. Shit will continue to happen. I have to learn to let go and move on. The stress is literally turning my hair grey and eating me alive. I need to Just. Stop. Stressing.

So I am going to channel my inner Mariah, Britney, Elle and hockey player and fight through it. No one will tell me I can’t do something from here on out and I need to stop making mountains out of molehills.

My name is Melissa and I am no longer the queen of the moles.

Namaste!

I think.

Melissa Hughes
https://www.theweekender.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_girltalk-2.jpgMelissa Hughes

By Melissa Hughes

For Weekender

Girl Talk began in 2012 as a telltale horror story of the city’s most epic dating disasters and has evolved into a column about love, life experiences and growing up. Melissa also has a weekly Girl Talk TV segment on PA Live and WBRE.