Notes from Steve

Be Thankful.

I watched this TikTok of this 9-year-old kid giving the prayer at Thanksgiving, and he broke down into sobs.  He was moved by being grateful.  It was supposed to be funny, but I’ve thought about it for a while.  Why aren’t we all emotional when thinking about how grateful we are to have what we have??  

A lot of times in life we make up stories to fill up the gaps.  We, as a society, are so accustomed to our drama* - that in times of calm … we** make stuff up to be angry about.  What if -- we were calm and grateful instead??  That would be so BORING, but then it would get better.

I used to talk about a “sense of urgency”.  The author I used to quote was John Kotter from Leading Change.  John said something like, “If you don’t have a sense of urgency at hand to motivate people - make it up.  Be creative as to why something needs to get done and get everyone emotional as to why it needs to be done, now!  Don’t rest on your laurels - you’ll fall asleep at the wheel and everything will collapse into ruin!” Yeesh -- that’s a lot.  (And it’s adding extra unnecessary drama and anxiety; and who needs that in today’s world?)

What if we just relaxed a bit?  Quit making up stories about how horrible life is.   (I told my friend Sheryl, who I was riding trails with yesterday, that I’m trying to quell my inner “Trail Karen” - the evil spirit in me that screams at people on the trail if they aren’t riding correctly.  I should be thankful instead and be happy that other people are enjoying nature.)  Be happy and grateful and thankful.

It may be boring, but you’ll get used to it.

*because of social media, reality shows, 24-hour news
**me.  ok, I’m talking about myself, but I assume everyone does this