What do you do with a bad apple?

What do you do with a bad apple?

Do you toss it into the circular file? Do you salvage the good pieces and make a pie? Do you throw it in the compost bin? Or do you tuck it into the low fork of the old maple out back and watch the squirrels and birds nibble upon it?

Well, me thinks, what DO you do with a bad apple, that naughty nemesis of the upside down frown?

But before I could answer myself, I was taken aback! Low and behold, and virtually before me, was MY old nemesis, a rotten apple whose only desire was to find and destroy the magical Kingdom of Goodness.

I had to stop this person from sucking the life blood out of these good people – and me. I couldn’t let this person destroy happiness; I just couldn’t. The Kingdom of Goodness depended on me.

Right?

Wrong. After realizing the armada was on shore leave and the soldiers had marched home for the holidays, I digressed and thought better of a forward attack. The nemesis would be expecting that anyway. Rather, I became introspective and thought, “I can’t save the world, silly. Just one person at a time. So start with yourself.”

Eureka! Revelation! Hallelujah!

The only reason bad apples, like my nemesis, permeate, fester and rot the other apples, is because they are GIVEN the energy to do so. Every time someone gets under your skin, they steal your energy. They tap you dry until you’ve got nothing left to give – to anyone. The emotional wear and tear is allowed to happen. We allow it to happen. I allowed it. But no more.

Breathless, I finally realized that the key to stopping my nemesis, the energy vampire who had taken so much of my precious time over the years, was right there staring me in the face. Shoot, I had the power to be proactive all along.

Oh yes. I now had the power to say, “No!”

“No, damn it. I won’t let you crawl under my skin. I won’t let you control my thoughts, ruin my day, or make my skin brown and mushy! So you go ahead and spew your venom, naughty nemesis. Go ahead. Let everyone see you - let ‘em see. Because I see you for the person you truly are now and I’m not letting your negativity penetrate my personal space anymore!”

And voila, all your power to piss me off is gone now.

And the kingdom of Goodness is once again safe from your poisonous words.

And I can breathe a sigh of relief in knowing that, next time someone tries to steal my energy or pillage the Kingdom of Goodness, I’ll be prepared.

Goodbye, bad apple. Goodbye.