Where's The Pony?

"In every adversity, there lies the seed of equivalent advantage. In every defeat is a lesson showing you how to win the victory next time." 

                                                                                                                                    --Robert Collier

There was a family that had twin boys. Worried that the boys had developed extreme personalities – one was a total pessimist, the other a total optimist – their parents took them to a psychiatrist.

First the psychiatrist treated the pessimist. Trying to brighten his outlook, the psychiatrist took him to a room piled to the ceiling with brand-new toys. But instead of yelping with delight, the little boy burst into tears. "What's the matter?" the psychiatrist asked, baffled. "Don't you want to play with any of the toys?"

"Yes," the little boy bawled, "but if I did I'd only break them."

Next the psychiatrist treated the optimist. Trying to dampen his out look, the psychiatrist took him to a room piled to the ceiling with horse manure. But instead of wrinkling his nose in disgust, the optimist emitted just the yelp of delight the psychiatrist had been hoping to hear from his brother, the pessimist. Then he clambered to the top of the pile, dropped to his knees, and began gleefully digging out scoop after scoop with his bare hands.

"What do you think you're doing?' the psychiatrist asked, just as baffled by the optimist as he had been by the pessimist.

"With all this manure," the little boy replied, beaming, "there must be a pony in here somewhere!" 

I love this story.  It reminds me that I need to look for the good even in the trying times.  I remember how trying the COVID lockdowns were.  Maybe you remember that I experienced a mental meltdown one afternoon--I grabbed my hiking boots and raged out the door for Badger.  I hiked with all of my might and about 12 minutes in, when I could barely breathe anymore--and I started to laugh.  I thought to myself, "Wait a minute, I teach and coach on this...on having a good attitude in the midst of a lousy circumstance." 

There's a gap between the knowing and the doing and I needed to begin the doing...period.

I realized that I couldn't write this stuff for you if I wasn't walking my talk. A huge part of leadership is leading by example...and I certainly was not a stellar example.  I started looking for the ponies...daily.  Here are some that I found back then: Dennis was considered essential and was still working. I connected by Zoom with those I love. I learned how to play games online with others. I also developed the skills to hold training workshops on Zoom.  I was (and still am) extremely healthy. I worked out with WalMart resistance bands and that helped my stress level.  Spring was more beautiful that year because I had more time to appreciate it. My faith in God grew. 

I found out some things about myself, too.  I need people more than I thought. That's a huge "aha!" for a task-oriented person. I also learned that the feeling of powerlessness can wreak havoc on my attitude. As a recovering control freak, I knew that, but the lockdown was an intense reminder.  If I can't control it, which is most of life right, I needed to not stress about it. 

What prompted this email was a memory that popped up on Facebook from this time in 2020.  Seeing that memory was a great reminder for me that I still need to look for ponies in the pile of manure that I may experience. 

Think about it--they are in that pile. 

Still learning to dig,