Opened my email this morning to receive a "weekly anxiety newsletter" from another pessimism-peddler of the negative and worrisome (as if that would endear me to their brand). And yet, even as I read it, I thought, there's more to the story - that didn't get written but -
For which I'm entirely grateful!
People ask me how I've kept positive during trying times. Well, as great literature reminds us: Sometimes it's the best of times; sometimes it's the worst of times. But if you look CAREFULLY you realize - It's just any other day - in which
- YOU can be A MOMENT OF TIME WELL SPENT for your sphere of influence, friends and family by pointing out just ONE GOOD THING that happened this week. What you focus on and SAY MATTERS.
- YOU are smart enough to see the BIG PICTURE. That we're making PROGRESS against the pandemic, that our government WITHSTOOD challenges this week (note that 350 million people DIDN'T riot) and MOST PEOPLE went about their week doing THEIR BEST with faith and friendliness for their neighbors, family and clients
- YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCE between one piece of data and a clickbait tweet or headline. Did interest rates nudge up a bit? Meh - they're still at the lowest point in six thousand years (or at least 50). Did housing sales fall in one month? Maybe - but did you see they were up 25.8% year-over-year! Employment fell to 6.7 during a turbulent election and holidays? Well, you know, it was almost 15% in April.
Oh, and we still did all those GOOD THINGS even while the pessimists discovered the MURDER HORNETS!
I think the new saying for 2021 should be "Give it a Rest!" You know, that simple, old-fashioned saying our grandmothers used to get us to settle down, stop being foolish and snap back into doing the right thing, the best we can, without forgetting that -
Everything is going to be ok.