I don’t participate in the Toboggan Nationals. No particular reason. I do think it’s a great event. Brings a lot of revenue and people to Camden in the winter. Nothing wrong with that. Gives the area a lot of positive publicity and that’s always a good thing. Those things have nothing to do with why I think it’s a great event. People are having fun, just for the sake of having fun is what makes it a great event! It doesn’t get any better than that.

I’ve always tried to share with my audience that we all need to lighten up. Everyone takes everything so seriously. Everybody is tense, and in the current political climate, everyone is angry. What does it get us? Sure, there’s a lot of serious things going on that deserve our attention, but there’s a whole lot of other stuff that we get all worked up about that doesn’t amount to anything. It’s a fact that there are people that enjoy being miserable. I get that. That’s their thing and nobody’s going to change that. For the majority, we make a choice. We can be happy or we can be angry/sad/sick/miserable.... You fill in the blank. As difficult as it may be, I try to be happy and look for the positive. It’s a constant struggle. The world is bombarding us with negative stuff all the time. It is up to us whether we accept it or let it go. There’s someone that posts negative, nasty comments on all my articles. Probably someone that doesn’t like me for whatever reason. Maybe just a negative person. I have no idea. And I don’t care.

I don’t understand why we as a people always look for the negative. Maybe it’s the news. I haven’t watched TV news for so many years I couldn’t tell you the last time. I pick and choose the stories on the online news that I do follow and only open the stories that I think can positively influence me. That’s just my choice. Sorry I got off track, but that happens to me a lot. Back to the snowplowing thing.

They should have known with Dave Dickey and Stuart Young involved, it couldn’t be serious. Anything involving those two guys can’t be taken too seriously.

That sort of thing happens to you and me all the time, but not as public as this venue. People are going to be people. How we react to those negative things that happen to us is what’s important and if we are looking for the positive and deciding to be happy, we’ll react appropriately. People who are always angry and stressed out often die at an early age. That’s not a concern for the folks participating in The Nationals.

These people are all about FUN! Here’s what’s happened at the Nationals weekend. People complained because it was crowded at their favorite restaurant. People complained because traffic was messed up out by the Snow Bowl and around town. People complained because they couldn’t find a place to park. The list is endless. You get that, right? Here’s the reality. A whole bunch of people chose to come to Camden on a winter weekend, have fun and spend money. That’s it. That’s reality. If it inconvenienced you, let it go. Monday was normal again. People having fun is a good thing. Having a facility that allows people to have fun is a good thing, also.

Sometimes when people have fun, they try to justify it as if they are doing something bad. They say things like “It’s the middle of winter and I just want to do something different. I’ll be back to work on Monday.” No excuses. Having fun is acceptable. It’s OK. You can even do it every day of your life. We can learn a lot from the people at the Nationals. It’s fun to dress up in a silly costume. It’s fun to travel thousands of miles for a few second ride. That fun list goes on and on. Fun doesn’t have to end on Monday, people. If it does, that’s a choice you make.

Camden has lots of events, really interesting, fun events that go on all year long. Only the Nationals is a silly event. I don’t know how this silly event slipped by the watchdogs of Camden’s image. They should have known with Dave Dickey and Stuart Young involved, it couldn’t be serious. Anything involving those two guys can’t be taken too seriously. And yet fun for the sake of fun is a big weekend every year in the middle of winter in Midcoast Maine. That’s what it is. Fun for the sake of fun. We all should do more of that.

 Bill Packard lives in Union and is the founder of BPackard.com.  He is a speaker, author, small business coach and consultant. 

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