Anyone who knows me knows that I hate/despise/detest February. In my book, it’s the longest, most cruel month of the year. BUT - this year I’m changing my tune. I have decided that every moment is special (except during a blizzard). February is not so bad …
February 12th, 2023, I was riding my bike back from southern Iowa and the sun was on my face, the wind was at my back, and it was 45 degrees. I was grinning from ear to ear. It was a great feeling. I was thinking when the next blizzard hits (and it will), keep this feeling in mind.
At Iowa Specialty Hospitals & Clinics, this is the year of the “Be” (… a honeybee is our mascot for 2023). “Be Focused/Generous/Humble and Innovative” are our themes for February. Every week for the past 25 years, I’ve written a column on something. This year it’s on the theme of the week. (For example: on the generous week, I got iced-in {stuck} in my garage and Mark from Iowa Specialty Hospitals & Clinics generously helped me escape. I wrote about that.) When given the task about how to act and be … my go-to is to be cynical, sarcastic and self-deprecating; however, those words weren’t chosen.
If you’ve ever trained for anything, you know that breaking down in practice allows you to gradually get better. When training for a marathon 25 years ago, my training schedule was over 18 weeks. Slowly, I added mileage to my runs and I was able to accomplish a task that was not even in my scope of “things Steve can do”. I’m finding that changing my perspective and outlook a little at a time is doable*.
My unwritten goal for this year is to have a better outlook. Enjoy and be enjoyable. Be kind … be nice.
*Question: how do you eat an elephant?? Answer: one bite at a time.
