I am grateful for a bird pooping on my head last evening. Hear me out, friends! via /r/gratitude

So last evening I had a short break at work. It was decent weather so I sat outside on a public bench and was scrolling on my phone. Suddenly, I felt an odd feeling on the top of my head. My first thought was it was just a leaf, flower petal or helicopter from one of the trees around me. But, just to be sure, I stroked my hand across the top of my head. No such luck. My hand was now also smeared with bird poop. I could’ve been angry, disgusted, grumpy overall but, no, I laughed like a lunatic on that bench on a public street. In fact, I probably laughed for a couple of minutes.

Why would I laugh? Well, frankly, why not? Anger would’ve done me no good. The errant bird certainly wouldn’t have felt it. I would’ve felt it. I would’ve carried with me for however long it lasted. Instead, that splatter of bird poop (on my fortunately shaved dome) snapped me out of my every day doldrum. It reminded me that I was just the fool in that moment with bird poop on his head and, now, hand. It undid whatever stories I had about myself at that moment and it liberated me from illusion. What a beautiful thing, this bird blessing me with a gift of momentary liberation!

When I got back to my work duties, I did so with a big, dumbass smile on my face. I probably even chuckled about it a few more times as I did my job liberated from the stress of my perfectionism and uptightness.

Then, as things often mysteriously go, this freedom of spirit came in handy. I got a call asking me if I’d work later to do a part of the job I’d never done before. I’ve turned down chances like this before out of fear of screwing up doing a task I’d never done before or even been shown. I only had some tiny, written instructions available which would be impossible to read on the fly. But here I was, the liberated fool fearless about making mistakes for the moment being. I said, “I’ve never done it before but I’m game.” The powers that be were actually very helpful and gave me significant guidance and you know what? Other than a few awkward moments it went quite well. I earned a few extra bucks but more importantly I took chances. I risked making a mistake and feeling stupid. I’m not always very good at that. Too eager to be just right. To be perfect.

My night ended better than I would’ve expected. Happy, liberated and excited by new confidence. All because some winged friend had decided the top of my head looked like an excellent target. Thanks, birdie.