I have been trying to start this post for nearly a month. Things have been super busy and I am finally getting around to it. And the longer I wait to write it, the more evidence builds toward proving the point I want to make.
I have always been a realist and pragmatist. Things need to make sense to me and I don’t understand the “dreamer” mentality. I value those people who have vision and can see the big picture and I know they play an important part in the workplace and in the world. But for me, what you see is what you get, and I believe that if you work hard, it will pay off. It’s the day to day that moves me forward (or backward or around in circles…)
It’s a really strange feeling to be amidst friends, colleagues, acquaintances and to listen to them complain about small things. These are not petty or unimportant problems to them but when you been through what we have, a lot more events and situations become much smaller pieces of pie. Two recent events come to mind: the birth of my niece and the Amber Alert drama that unfolded a few nights ago in this province. Witnessing the birth of a child is the most incredible, grounding, earth shattering experience one can ever participate in and I have been fortunate enough to do it twice, excluding my own which were earth shattering in a different kind of way! Seeing Mia on the ultrasound and then having her in my arms half an hour later left me gobsmacked and in complete awe. It truly is miraculous and there are no words to describe the feelings. And then the Amber Alert drama of Thursday night. As many of you know, there was an emergency signal sent out on everyone’s electronics at approximately 11:30PM. It was then repeated a while later because the child had been found – deceased. In that time span, the operators at 911 were flooded with people complaining because the loud noise of the emergency signal startled or woke them. Needless to say, those people were adequately berated in the days following for their shallow, whiny complaints. A beautiful 11-year-old girl was taken at the hands of her father, on her birthday, Valentine’s Day.
When things backfire, when plans go awry, when you have a disagreement, please keep it in perspective. You don’t know what has gone on in someone’s life. This is not to say to ignore your feelings or to put personal beliefs aside, but look at the big picture. Is the day to day chaos really a big deal in the grand scheme of things? Sure, it counts, and it is cumulative. But as they say, “don’t sweat the small stuff” because if you do, the big stuff will kick your ass and you won’t recover.