Marlene Gomez: Hello, everyone. My name is Marlene Gomez. I am a nurse and a project manager for Organizational Excellence and Patient Safety. And I am here to talk about some positive quotes and other fun antidotes to keep a positive attitude.

So, I am a huge fan of the Golden Girls. So, I am going to start off by sharing a quote by the late Betty White. "If you take yourself lightly and don't take yourself too seriously, pretty soon you can find the humor in our everyday lives. And sometimes, it can be a lifesaver." This is probably my favorite quote for many reasons. For those of you who may not know me personally, I am 4'9 I have been this tall since I was 11 years old. So, it only took a short time, definitely pun intended, to learn to laugh at myself and not to take myself so seriously.

So last year, for example, I experienced some very difficult challenges in my personal life. These events that were occurring in my life caused me to become very depressed, very anxious. But thankfully, I had one huge lifesaver for me. And that was, surprisingly, coming to work. Yes, coming to work was my saving grace. I love what I do very much. And I'm also very fortunate that I work with a team that I can share everything with, everything that is happening in my life, my feelings. And also, finding the humor and the positivity in the most ordinary of days.

Now, one way we have accomplished this is by sharing dad jokes. These dad jokes that are just so, so bad, they are actually good. We randomly share dad jokes throughout the day and we even established an official competition. Now, I am extremely proud to share that I was crowned the World's Greatest Dad after two months of jokes and votes. I'm not calling myself the greatest dad. That title was on the coffee mug that was gifted to me by my team as a prize for winning the competition. So incidentally, do you all know who is the highest ranking officer at the hospital? It's general anesthesia. I know, that was very bad.

We also have a toy rat in our department that has spurred many conversations, many laughs, and undoubtedly some very strange looks. So, we first brought it into the department as a joke, just intended to fool the other team members into believing that we had a rat in the department. And this is a big black rubber rat. It's pretty hideous. So eventually, this progressed to the rat moving from spot to spot, the rat using crutches, and now, it is sitting up high in a corner in our office, wearing a little Santa Claus hat. Why? I frankly don't know why. But I will say that it elicits plenty of questions and that just makes it even funnier. So, this rat actually belonged to my daughter who also has quite a sense of humor. I will tell you what she did to me. Two times, she has actually switched out the sugar in the sugar canister for salt. And I didn't find this out until I prepared my coffee and took a huge chug of it, only to realize that that was not sugar, it was salt.

As many of you know, gift giving is one of life's greatest pleasures. I am one of those people that enjoys giving a gift even more than actually receiving a gift. And I feel the same way about a smile and just the art of good vibes. Think about a time when you've walked into a room. And as soon as you walk in, you pick up on the vibe in the room. Whether it's a good vibe or a bad one, you instantly pick it up. Or how about when you see somebody walking down the hall, either here at work or somebody at the grocery store? And then, they flash you a huge smile. Didn't that just give you a good feeling? And what did you do? You smiled back. Now, I know I do this, and I'm sure that I've probably had somebody at the grocery store think I was weird, but you know what? It's okay. I would like to think that I'm passing out free good vibes instead of bad ones.

Now, everyone in this organization is a caregiver by nature. That is why we chose to work here, because we're all caregivers. And we are all in the business of taking care of our community. But we cannot do this effectively if we don't take care of ourselves first. And as you know, caregivers are notoriously known for skipping out on self-care, which is why we must take care of each other and take care of our team, the people that we work with every day. These are the people that sometimes we see more than we see our families at home. So, the team that we work with here at work, they are our families. Now, there have been times when I arrive at my desk to find a delicious dessert from the cafe, because my teammates overheard my excitement about the cafe's dessert of the day. And those small gestures make my day and they're the motivators that I need to, again, keep going every day and also pass on the positivity.

Even when I'm not feeling my very best, I have found that being positive towards others actually helps me feel better. Positivity creates a boomerang effect. Elevating others makes my own mood improve. It feels great to think that someone smiled or even laughed because of something I said or did. You truly never know what someone else is going through. So, that kind of gesture that you may have to offer, whether it be a smile or a dessert from the cafe, that small gesture may be what makes or breaks their day. Think about that.

I like to joke around and say that my doggies are my favorite kids, because they love me unconditionally and they don't talk back. I don't even have to buy those two a cell phone or a car and they are crazy about me. Anytime I need a quick mood boost, I just open up the camera roll in my phone, and I look at the pictures of my two corgis. Their names are Mia and Nito. And you know what? I feel instant joy. I feel like if you could see me right now, I probably have hearts in my eyes. I was sharing this with somebody on my team, and she shared with me that she likes to look at pictures and videos of baby sloths to lift her spirits. So, I know that her and I are not alone. We all have something that gives us those emoji heart eyes when we see it. So when you need a little pick me up, going throughout your day, look up something that brings you instant joy. Maybe it's a picture of your puppies. Maybe it's a picture of your baby. Maybe it's your spouse. Anything that brings you joy. Just take one minute and it'll make you smile.

So choosing to be an optimist, again, it's like that return trip phenomenon with a boomerang. You never know when someone close to you may be counting on you to provide empowerment and motivation. I know that I rely on my team to do that for me. And I feel that they can also rely on me to do that for them.

So before I leave, does anyone know why the cookie went to the hospital? Well, it's because he felt crummy. Now, I know I started my podcast by sharing a quote from Betty White. So again, I am a huge Golden Girls fan. I feel like I can sit here and probably recite every single episode for you Golden Girls. That is how much I love the show. So to close off, I will share a quote by the character of Sophia Petrillo in the Golden Girls. She said, "People waste their time pondering whether a glass is half empty or half full. Me, I just drink whatever's in the glass."

Thank you all again for making time in your day to tune in. I hope you all choose to drink whatever's in the glass, because it's what we each have, and we might as well enjoy it.