Oh, There will be Days

"Oh, there will be days." That's some very sage advice my wife's late friend shared with Shannon. When the friend said this, she was referring to my wife's job as a Stay-at-Home Mom (yes Virginia, it is a job). However, that phrase transcends all jobs and all parts of life. My friends, Today was one of those days.

I will not sit here and complain about everything that went wrong, because that really serves no purpose other than agitating me more. I have so much to be grateful for that I need to get out of my funk. So, I say goodbye to the computer problems I was having at work. Farewell to the aggravation of children who do not want to listen. So long to the frustration of a little girl who will not go to sleep.

Instead, let me say thank you Lord for three beautiful and healthy children. Dear Mr. Full-time Job, let us see if we cannot get along better tomorrow.  To my Jillian, Daddy loves you so much; but it is time for you to go bed honey. You need your rest. Finally, to you kind reader, I say good night as well. I am going to finish the dishes, grab some ice cream (Spumoni), and read Charles Dickens' "The Christmas Carol."

Another Proud Moment

In Goodbye Diet Vacation, I wrote about how my wife was participating in a "Biggest Loser" style competition with Team AMS. Hank Hanasik, Team AMS Coach, weighed and measured various parts of their bodies, inclduing, arms, thighs, chest and waist, on Day 1 and every two weeks after. He awarded one point for each pound the contestants lost and two points for each whole inch the contestants lost. The person with the highest point total at the end of the 8-weeks won.

My wife WON! I have never been prouder of her. She worked so hard and dedicated a lot of time to exercising and eating right. Shannon did not go on a diet. Instead, she went on a life changing journey. She put the proper fuel into her body, and then used that fuel to get slim and trim.

From what I hear from other people that participated in the challenge, my wife was inspiration to them. I am not surprised. Shannon is an inspiration to me and my children. She is living proof of what can happen when you set a goal and work hard towards achieving that goal.

I want to thank Hank Hanasik for training my wife. Most importantly, I have to say to my wife:

I Love You Shannon, and I am proud of you.

At Least Try!

Not much drives me crazier than when someone says: “I don't want to do it because it is too hard.” Worse, is the phrase “I can't”. Are you kidding me? Are you that lazy? At the very least, TRY!

Where would we be if the Pilgrims had decided that life in the New World was too hard, gave up, and let themselves die? Or what if during the American Revolution, the Revolutionary Army thought that beating England was too hard? What if the World thought it was too hard to stop Hitler? It seems on the surface that the people involved in these situations had no choice; that it was a matter of life and death; they had to try. Wrong, they still had a choice. The Pilgrims could have given up and died that first winter. The Revolutionaries could have succumbed to British rule, and the World could have let Hitler become its leader. I know that these are extremes, and maybe you don't think they are practical examples; but, it's a matter of scale.

At work, I am currently changing the way that we create and translate our manuals. The changes I am initiating take a lot of set up. This is an extremely difficult process. One that could catastrophically fail. Sometimes when I stop to think about it, I get nervous and wonder, what will happen if this fails. Would I lose my job? Probably not. Would it look really bad for me? Absolutely. But, I can't think this way. That kind of fear can cripple you. It destroys the creative process. So, I don't dwell on what will happen if I fail, but what will happen when this works? When these changes succeed, our documents will be more standardized, we will save money on translations, and most importantly the documents will be more accessible to our customers.

Regardless, the outcome isn't the important thing. It's the journey that makes the person. I can't remember if I first heard that from Zig Ziglar or Jim Rohn. It really doesn't matter. I just know that if you try something and it doesn't turn out as planned, you will still gain from it. You just have to open your eyes to see what that IT is that you are gaining. I've had my share of things go awry and learned a great deal from those experiences. I will be sure to let you know the results of the changes I am implementing at work and what I have learned in the process.