No More Mrs. Nice Guy

by Melissa
(Vancouver, BC Canada)

I love my friend, Jaala, but there has always been a minor problem. She has always been more concerned about the image that she presents to others than how she feels inside. She would rather have people label her in certain ways than ever make a single ripple in the pond. She attended events and meetings for causes she did not support with people she did not like for reasons she could not explain. She was stuck in a rut and resenting the people around her. Her marriage suffered. Her children were unhappy. Even her health suffered because of it.

Jaala bought a motorcycle and started riding it in a rare act of defiance. The outrage lasted for about a month and then people stopped paying attention. They let the bike thing go and it was no longer such a big deal. When they ended up having to give up one of their vehicles, the bike started making far more sense after all. But still, the unhappiness that she felt was starting to get to her. She stopped coming straight home from work, riding around on her bike, looking for a solution that was just not showing up for her.

One day she pulled up at a little roadside diner and stepped inside. The older lady could read the problem in her face from the first moment she saw her. Laughing, the older lady told Jaa that if she started living as herself instead of being so worried about the image that she was projecting, she would be happier. Just like she had with the decision to buy the bike in the first place, it was time for her to stop being such a pushover. No more Mrs. Nice Guy, period.

She finished up a cup of coffee and hopped back on her bike. Roaring back home, she came in and told the kids to grab their jackets and get ready to go. Suddenly all of the weight of the world was off of her shoulders and she felt years younger. When her husband came home ready to get ready for another of the wretched meetings, she stomped her foot and said “NO”. They were not going to go to that meeting- if he wanted to go, he could go alone. She was taking the kids to dinner and maybe a movie. No more Mrs. Nice Guy. She was going to make decisions not based on image but in the moment of the time. She had plans to unleash the whole new her on quite a few people and if they liked it fine and if not, that was fine too. She was finished worrying about what people thought or said about her and if they did not like it, well, they could just kiss her tailpipe, preferably after a long ride.