Not my friggin' circus, not my feckin' monkeys
A few years ago I learned an amazing expression from my amazing Polish friend called Patti.
It's become a bit of a mantra for me. I need to share it with you.
It's one of the tools that helps me deliberately care less.
Here's how I use it: Whenever I feel the problems of the world weighing down on my shoulders, I go sit atop my guru mountain (where I'm wearing no more than a loin cloth and my spectacles, if it helps you visualise this) and I just sit there and repeat the expression over and over to myself.
- It's not my circus, they're not my monkeys
- It's not my circus, they're not my monkeys
- It's not my circus, they're not my monkeys
Occassionally, I vary things a bit:
- It's not my friggin' circus, they're not my f**kin' monkeys
- I've got my own circus, I've got my own monkeys.
- They're not my friggin' problem, and I can't fix 'em.
Now that I understand what the expression means and why it's important, usually, a simple repetition of the stock, standard expression, backed up with a shrug, is good enough:
- It's not my circus, they're not my monkeys
- It's not my circus, they're not my monkeys
- It's not my circus, they're not my monkeys
And then, once the message has sunk in, I climb back down the mountain, put my clothes back on, and go back to work where (mostly) I focus on doing good for my own circus and my own monkeys, and not getting heat-up about other people's circuses and their monkeys.
