The Feel Good Soup

Anyone else using COVID-19 to shame themselves, telling yourself you should be doing more? I've been struggling with it for weeks. I finally got tired of it. And in that moment where I was taking a break from beating myself up, I allowed my Inner Voice to speak to me. Here's how that conversation went. ... http://www.thefeelgoodsoup.com//speaking-of-shame-during-/

Leave it to an author to come up with a great story-related analogy for life. How often have we found ourselves, reeling from some abrupt event that's taken us off our balance, wondering what happened, why it happened, why so-and-so did what they did, what could we have done to prevent it, or turn it into a different outcome? It almost seems too obvious to say, but we can't change the past. So why do we spend so much time analyzing it? ... The better question, the ONLY question should be: What are you going to do about it now? Will you choose to feel and act like a victim of your life? Or will you choose to take these circumstances and grow, become stronger, and become a better version of yourself? You hold the pen of your life story. You get to choose how it ends.

I heard this from Seth Godin this week in a rare long-form interview on a podcast. This was something he said he would like to say, if ever he was asked to deliver a commencement speech at a college or university. It was so simple and yet, so powerful. On a day-to-day basis, it's easy to forget how powerful we truly can be. The words we choose in an ordinary interaction, kindness when being dismissive is so much easier, time and attention, even for a few minutes, given on a... busy day. And if none of that speaks to you. Think of Greta. Use your power carefully.

I know it's hard to muscle up the courage to speak up at work. But the truth is, you won't get anywhere by agreeing with everyone, especially your superiors, and you won't gain anyone's respect by doing so either. The hard truth is that if you want to make any kind of difference in this world, if you want to gain respect from people who are "above you" or in more powerful positions than you, then you HAVE TO CHALLENGE the status quo. Of course, do your homework and be strat...egic in your challenging, but for goodness sake, the world needs you to be that one person in the room that asks the one question that everyone else is thinking, but no one would dare to ask. Yes, some people will not like you for it, but nothing will ever change unless you do something about it.