A Message from the CEO - Oct 2024

I'm turning 60 in a matter of days.  A friend pointed out that this potentially will be my best decade yet.  Potentially, a lot of things can happen - sometimes good and sometimes bad.  I told my friend that my perspective as of late was to “embrace the suck”.  She said, “That sounds negative, Steve.”  I said, “Not so much.  Life isn’t perfect, and regardless of how optimistic and giddy I am, there are going to be times in my life that aren’t great … they will suck.”  “How I approach them is the key.” 

If I embrace a bad situation with grace and patience - I can change how I see it.  Lemons turning into lemonade if you will.  I was riding up in Minneapolis a couple of years ago and it rained like crazy.  I remember hanging out in a tunnel with a couple of friends while it poured.  We ended up at the definition of a dive bar … filled with the coolest people, and we had a great time.  I was talking about my ride to an older gentleman when I was taking a break on a bench later on, saying “We got rained on something awful.” “Embrace the suck” - he said - “did you have fun?” he asked.  I told him about the cool little dive bar we found and the people who were there, and said “Yeah, it was memorable and now that I look back, it was really awesome.”  

Perspective.

This next decade will be filled with all sorts of stuff - it’s called life. Things will happen that will cause frustration and heartache.  But knowing my friends and family, I will be supported and loved throughout; regardless.  Another version of me could see stuff happening and go full-on victim mode and scream and holler about all the injustices of aging.  Or I could embrace the process and enjoy the heck out of the next 10 years.

I choose embrace.