There’s a word I’ve found myself repeating more often than I’ve been comfortable with over the last few months: “yikes.” It’s become my own personal catchphrase. Almost dropped something? “Yikes.” Got caught doing something embarrassing in public? “Yikes.” Responding to a friend talking about how rough their next week is going to be? “Yikes.”
It’s come to mean something far beyond an exclamation of fear. It’s a lighthearted belief that things could be worse and they will get better. It’s a recognition that things are bad now, but in the grand scheme of things, our day to day problems are as silly and goofy as saying “yikes” regularly.