Volume VIII-Avril-XXMM
Words Matter. I ran an errand early this morning (and yes, I scored some toilet paper!) and as I returned home I encountered a stark reminder of how important our words are in influencing what’s around us, how people receive us, and even what we believe about how things will come to to be in our lives. When I returned home to my highrise condo building, I took the elevator up from underground parking and another woman joined me at the lobby floor. She was noticeably well dressed (even her N95 mask looked stylish) and accompanied by a matching little furball on a designer leash. She was a rare encounter because I didn’t recognize her and after eight extroverted years in this building I feel like I know most of the people who live here…
I struck up a conversation and all she could focus on was the bleak negatives of our current world scenario: how the problems would last an infinitely long time, how we were headed to financial ruin, how most of us would get very sick, how it “was all just terrible”… I tried to soothe her with encouragement about our progress in the Bay Area and other stories of how people are starting to find a rhythm despite being thrown into these circumstances without much preparation, but there was no turning her around… Her mind was made up – and she was completely authentically hopeless and miserable. The interesting thing is, I don’t believe she was having a particularly “bad” day. (You know what I’m talking about, we all have those once in a while.) Whether over the course of the last six weeks or over her lifetime, she had used her own words to convince herself everything was failing and there were no other options. As she and Fifi exited the elevator, I managed to offer a weak “I hope you find some sunshine out there”… and I did hope so. I desperately hoped that she allowed herself to see, then acknowledge, then maybe even feel some of that sunshine – because despite the worst of the headlines… it is out there. Lots of it.
I compare this to an Inspiration in my life (apologies, Shea…): Ovarian cancer diagnosis barely a year after her fairytale wedding. She knew she’d beat it. She convinced hundreds of us she’d beat it. When the doctors didn’t give her much cohesive guidance to work with, she marshalled the troops, including a band of merrymen/women who travelled with her to the best research hospitals in the country to figure out how to kick this monster in the teeth. In the process, HER WORDS inspired hundreds (maybe more)… and we raised tens of thousands of dollars inside a single Orangetheory family… and connected people around the country to make sure our Shea, and the people supporting her, and the other people that could be helped that she met along the way… knew we were all in this #Together. It started with her Words… that then became the Words of Others… and what we believed, then others also believed. And 18 months later, our Shea is cancer-free. Words. Absolutely. Matter.
See the difference? (please nod.)
Look back at the banner at the top of this email. See those edited words in the graphic? Those are very intentional. My good friend, Mary Schaefer, who also happens to be a super-talented executive coach and a gifted TedX speaker on Humanity in the Workplace (and will absolutely kill me when she sees this), was one of the first to post the popular graphic below on my LinkedIn feed. It informed my banner design and it even informed my first note to you – where I exchanged the word “quarantine” with “retreating for wellness”… Can you appreciate the impact if all of us became influencers of the Words of the people in our circles of influence… and those influencers did the same in their circles? My well dressed neighbor and Fifi might find the sunshine around them so bright that they’d have NO CHOICE but to give in and enjoy the warmth…
Live in possibilities. Be the light, even especially when others can’t. 💕
