Feeling Like a Lonely Grasshopper?

Let’s face it. We all have been there. Your funny status on Facebook, the hilarious picture on Instagram, the wittiest restaurant review blog on WordPress, your hit song on YouTube or maybe your uncanny 150 characters ever in the alphabet on Twitter… And yet, now beyond legal drinking age, you still have not gone viral. And that makes you feel down like a lonely grasshopper in the woods.

You say you don’t care about the viral thing? Then why do you count the likes and meticulously like each comment? ‘Cause sooner or later, it happens. The virtual failure interferes with your reality. Start questioning yourself at work? At home? In bed? Am I not funny enough? Do I not have what it takes to go viral when a grumpy cat can do it? Why don’t my friends share it at least? Do I still have friends? At that point, you’re on the slippery slope of what we call a viral anxiety.

Viral Anxiety Re-enactment

You lose interest even in Pinterest, become jealous of your friends’ posts and yes, you know who you are, grab a glass of alcohol in the saddest happy hour ever with some coworkers you, by the way, totally despise otherwise.

Good news! You’re not the only one. Let me tell you about Rabbitoreg. Rabbitoreg is a fictitious name of a real horse. And by real, I mean made from play dough. When my daughter was about two, we bought play dough to introduce her to the magical world of unbridled creativity. Filled with enthusiasm I created a horse to show how this magic manifests in the hands of a trained expert. I handed over my beautiful horse to her with these bittersweet parting words: “Look, you can make anything from play dough!” I was sure the recording of this moment will definitely go viral.

This is what happened: the horse triggers the biggest smile; and while admiring my creation my daughter turns to me with the most innocent praise on her face:

“Daddy! Wow! You made an old rabbit?”

Ever since, whenever Life throws some monkey ranch into my plans, I like to think of the horse, which by the way, I named Rabbitoreg in retrospect; and remember how the “old rabbit” made my daughter smile. Lesson learned. Feeling down? Saddle up. ‘Cause, whether it goes viral or just makes one person smile, ultimately, it’s nothing but play dough. That’s all it is. Play dough. People matter, the rest, is just play dough. Be smart out there, folks! Thanks for reading this.