Two Ways To Look At Everything. 12/4/2023

 Good Morning,

I am under way for the day and stopped long enough to write and have a hot mug of Door County White Christmas  Coffee. 

Yesterday morning I went through my morning ritual and not much ever, if at all, is different about what I do. One of the first things I do is to let our dogs Leo and Gibbs outside for their morning antics. As I opened the door to let them out, I always turn on the floodlight that has illuminated our yard since 1994. 99% of the time I am awake before the sun rises. 

Yesterday as I flipped the switch on the wall, the light blinked and died. I won't go into the process as to what it took to make sure we had lights this morning. But here is the lesson I learned. My reaction to the light failure was this." Really, the dang light let me down" I wasn't exactly happy. Then comes along my wife who said." wow that light sure has lasted a long time. 29 years exactly. That is awesome." I really wasn't in the mood for little miss sunshine. My reaction was totally opposite from hers. Neither reaction was right or wrong. They were just both different. Rene was correct in seeing the positive. She also knew that I would not rest well and be comfortable without that light for the yard. 

We need to place value in the different views that people bring to our "buffet of the day". Rene was totally opposite of my reaction. She was praising the service of 29 years and I on the other hand was disappointed in the fact that the light did not last longer. I did not scold her for seeing it her way. She did not make any comments about me being cheap and not looking forward to a ladder job in nasty weather. She did say this. "Let me know what I can do to help". 

The difference in what our reactions to the situation was this. Rene felt fine with the failure and saw it as an opportunity to praise. I however let my reaction frustrate me. Again I wasn't wrong because I knew what was ahead of me.  She wasn't wrong but we each accommodated each others opinions. Her opinion later rubbed off on me. Take time to listen to others. Never shut down their opinion. Their opinion might be just what you need.

Marty