Tell Them You’re Fabulous

It’s a standard greeting – How are you? You’ll hear it in the morning when you step through the doors of your place of employment and all through the day as you progress through your list of chores.

Well, I recently had an encounter with a grocery clerk that made me realize just how rote the whole thing has become and how easy it is to turn that around.

A young man, probably 25 or so, was checking me out at the local Trader Joes and asked how I was. I replied, “I’m fabulous.” The checker took a second look at me and proceeded into a lengthy conversation that was both interesting and uplifting. We were left with that instant bond you sometimes feel with a perfect stranger, knowing that you both just shared a moment, never to be returned to, but valuable in itself.

I have often told people I’m fabulous, in answer to that proverbial question, with varying degrees of emphasis on the “fabulous.” It often floats right over some people’s heads, but frequently causes others to stop for a moment and ask themselves why. What does this woman have to be so happy about? Why is she fabulous and I’m not feeling it so much?

Sometimes it lightens the other person’s day, but it almost always lightens mine because as the words leave my mouth, I suddenly feel fabulous. The word itself brings a certain “over-the-top” sensation with it. Not okay, not fine, not good, not even great, but fabulous!

Terrific would work. So would “absolutely wonderful!” As long as the sense of joy in life, being at the top of your game and at one with the Universe is projected, it’s all good.

For those days when you’re not feeling fabulous, few as they may be, ever heard of the expression “Fake it until you make it”? Pretending you’re fabulous may just get you there.