The morning started off with a car ride to school with the typical background noise of kids bickering and songs playing. In a rare moment of silence, I took a deep breath thinking about the busy schedule at work ahead. Then came one of the best comments I’ve ever heard…
“I got revenge on life.”
Half trying not to laugh, and the other half extremely intrigued by what he said, I looked back at my son and asked what he meant by “I got revenge on life”. A little over a month ago he got Covid, and he was so proud of himself that after he recovered, he still dominated his spirit day contest of yelling into the megaphone and being obnoxiously loud for his school. Covid couldn’t slow him down showing his school spirit so from his eyes, he totally got revenge on life.
I love this saying. Life throws plenty of challenges our way and in my son’s eyes, while one of life’s challenges was trying to hold him back, he persevered to be the spirit champion for his school that day. Take that life!
While I’m focused on trying to help my kids grow and become their best authentic selves, it’s moments like these that make me take a step back and realize we can learn something in the most unexpected moments, from some of the most unexpected people. Here I am talking to an 8-year-old and he’s dropping this great wisdom about how he mentally viewed his perseverance and determination refusing to let a challenge knock him down.
I’m continuing to see wisdom comes in all shapes and sizes. Learning doesn’t have to be confined or limited to certain prototypes. Picking up clues to add to your authentic greatness doesn’t just have to come from some high level leader, educator, or person in power. Wisdom can come from anywhere around you as long as you bring an open mind and are willing to invest time listening and observing.
Bringing an open mind and investing time listening sounds very elementary but I’ve noticed many of us are not exactly excelling in the elementary. Life gets busy and the rush to sprint through the day’s checklist determines where we focus our attention. The question becomes, are we really taking the time to be open-minded and actively listen? The sprinting ahead in our day can put blinders on our willingness to take in additional clues on our path to our authentic greatness. Sometimes, we just need a reminder to be more mindful of what each of us can learn from right around us.
Once we realize our life can become our library where each interaction and each situation present its own lesson to garnish, we can awaken our lifelong learning experience. Soak it in, enjoy all your surroundings have to offer in your journey, and don’t forget what my 8-year-old taught me, get revenge on life and continue to persevere.
Take your step: while times are busy with yearend work, holidays, and all the other craziness that presents itself, take some time to try to slow down. Soak in more of what’s around you and invite in more time to bring an open mind and actively listen to those around you. Sometimes we just need reminders that it’s okay to slow down and bring more mindfulness to our everyday.