If you read last week’s three thoughts you already know that recently I had to say goodbye to my cat Charlotte of 17 years. It’s incredible how much attachment we as humans can have to animals and how much they provide for us over the years. Certainly they give us more than we give, when you consider the emotional support and unbending loyalty they they have for their humans.
Our society puts an emphasis on fast. Hustle culture will get you promoted. We look at headlines in the news and make snap judgements without reading the article. We are constantly getting barraged with ads. On average we see about 5000 advertisements a day in one form or another. You don’t have to drive very far down the road from wherever you live in this country to know that America is the fast food capital of the world. Track builders can build a house in mere weeks these days.
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Over the holiday season, my wife and I each had two weeks off at home to reflect after a challenging year. She’s a school teacher, so the holiday break is a usual component of her schedule; however, as someone who worked rotating shifts—including holidays, overnights, and everywhere in-between—prior to this year, this was uncharted territory for me. Even when I do have time off, I usually fill it with travel, providing little opportunity for true relaxation and introspection. Aside from a couple of local day trips around the Black Hills, this was a legitimate staycation.
This year I am stepping away from traditional New Year’s goals. I’m not going to lose ten pounds, I’m not going to become fluent in Italian and I am not going to go viral with the Human Constant. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t mind doing all of those things but I have had those “resolutions” before and I don’t typically hit the goal, or I forget about it by February and move on to something else.
The end of the year is quickly coming to a close and this is the time of the year that people start to ease into the holidays and take stock of the year that was. While more people are likely to make New Year’s resolutions than look at their year in review, the two are really symbiotic if you want to maximize your momentum going into next year.
I don’t have a selling bone in my body.
I remember as a kid having to sell fundraisers for my school. My customers were my parents and my relatives and that was it out of pure sympathy. It wasn’t like it was a bad product. Anyone remember “World’s Finest Chocolate”? I mean it’s chocolate for heaven’s sake, surely I could sell that. Not a chance.
If you have spent any time online recently, you have probably run across the phrase “toxic positivity” more than once. While toxic positivity certainly is something to be aware of, it seems to me that lately, as the world becomes increasingly negative, there is a drive to label any kind of positivity as toxic.
It doesn’t matter what time a day or what season we are in, it seems like there are always a multitude of fires to put out. Whether it’s the daily mundane of the dog barking because it’s time to eat or something much more complicated, there are 100s of things we are thinking about daily.
Everyone romanticizes about taking the big risk. Pack up shop, sell the house and move to Europe and start the life of your dreams! I definitely have found myself falling into that category more and more over the last several years. Don’t like your job? Just quit! When reality sets it, rarely is it that simple and also very easy for others to tell YOU to take the risk, but it’s not their life at stake if the risk doesn’t pay off.
Procrastination is a gift of mine. I love putting something on the bottom of my list that needs to be done but I don’t want to do. I mean it’s on my list, but I will find 30 other things that absolutely have to be done before that task that I loathe.