Friday, August 26, 2016

You Gotta Work It


Last week I saw a Washington Post column that I had a visceral negative reaction to: "My Parents Happy Marriage Ruined My Love Life." I formed a highly ranty blog post in my mind on the way home from work and laid it all out for my husband when I got home.  He kindly recommended that it probably would not come out very well, that my fear sounding like the "grumpy old man yelling at the young whipper snappers on his front lawn" was probably well founded.   So I have simmered down a bunch, but would love to tell the author of the column one important thing:

Success takes work.
 A lot.
And if it looks easy, they just chose to work at it.
A lot.

I learned this from my Mom. She was our biggest supporter whether we succeeded at something or not. Being unsuccessful wasn't a sin in her book, the biggest sin of all was not working the problem.  I can hear her voice now, telling me "you've got to work the problem" whenever I hit a road block or something didn't go my way. This philosophy is how she had a 30-plus year marriage, two kids that turned out OK, a successful career as a special education teacher, and is now enjoying retirement traveling the world.

I think sometimes when we see success it looks effortless, at least from the outside.  If we are in a tough spot ourselves, we are envious of how easy it appears for others.  But even the most successful swimmer in history, Michael Phelps, put in many thousands of hours of practice.

That's why I am excited to introduce my friend

We've known each other for a long time as we both worked in the same parts of the Air Force.  He is a published author of both non-fiction and fiction, is called upon as a motivational speaker, is an incredible photographer, and still has a full time Air Force civilian job.  He has built a great life and believes in enjoying it to the fullest.  It would be easy to be envious of his life of sunsets and exotic travel, to think he has it easy, but I know different.  I know that Gary works hard all day, every day, from sun up to sun down.  He's got a great blog called Introspection that you should go check out. His advice and his positive personal outlook is always on point! I am looking forward to working together with him.



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