Today is Halloween. Good. Best holiday of the year – costumes, candy, what more could you want? No Black Friday rush to the mall – no decorating and expecting gifts or buying stuff that no one needs … I love Halloween. I was talking about this most holiest of days at lunch and asked about this Beggar’s night thing in Des Moines. Dr. Hurt said Omaha didn’t have it, and I said neither did Sioux City … I don’t know about you, but I’m partial to Halloween on October 31. (And don’t add chocolate to my chili or fruit to my beer, it should be as God intended.) Ash Hanson was saying as kids, they’d map out the town weeks in advance to “maximize on their candy intake”. This critical thinking skill is a good thing. #winner
We had the board meeting last night and one of the discussions we had was on the system’s long term goals and strategic vision.
So my new thing is choosing battles. I’m trying to figure out whether or not something has enough merit to warrant me to expend my limited personal energy in a fight. A good example would be national politics. I’m a Twitter reader (I don’t tweet because I can’t possibly get my thoughts out succinctly in 140 characters), and I’m for the most part an observer of Facebook*. I watch the news and read the posts, but at the end of the day if I am losing sleep over the general anxiety of what is going on in politics, the loser in the fight is me. My health declines because I’m grousing in my living room armchair and angry with something I have no say in … Should I be active and vote and stay informed? Absolutely. When it crosses over to highly emotional, I should probably step back. (same with sports … just saying …)
This is not easy. I have opinions and actually like to go to battle … the thing is, I need to understand and appreciate when the battle is necessary. I would say that if I (or Iowa Specialty Hospitals & Clinics or my family or friends) are personally affected and my involvement would improve the situation, then I should have a dog in the fight. Some people don’t like the battle – but those same people would point out to me that “this is why you have the job you have; we pay you to go to battle”.
We all have responsibilities, and we all are expected to “go to battle” at points in our life. In order to maintain sanity, we have to continually discern whether or not our voice, and the emotion we put behind our fight, is appropriate. Good sleep is essential and if you are tossing and turning because of a fight or argument or an unnecessary disagreement – then re-evaluate. Our collective mental and physical health is more important than whether you are right in every argument.
* If I post something I’m obsessed with seeing who “liked” my post, so I find it easier not to post at all.
