“Good morning!”
“What’s good about it?”
Have you ever had people react that way? Some people just try to suck the joy out of the room.
I got to a point in my life where that response infuriated me.
I’d snarl, “It was before you said that!” or, “What the heck is wrong with you?”, or maybe just glare.
These responses set a tone for a bad day. Plus, I thought it was the other person’s fault.
Living With Integrity is One Of My Goal
I want who I think I am and how I show up in the world to always be the same person.
My Mom was intentionally optimistic. With thirteen children to raise, three meals a day, laundry, and coaching us into becoming decent human beings, she certainly had excuses to be cantankerous. Yet, she stayed in a good mood most of the time.
I want to be like my Mom. I think of myself as good natured and easy going.
When I was at my worst in the headset, short staffed, personnel issues, trying to cover three shifts, three kids at home, I lost who I was.
Had I let my work environment change my identity?
Because, I simply couldn’t be sunny and friendly every day like I wanted to.
It was devastating.
Has your workplace environment ever messed with your sense of who you are?
Power to Change
I went and got counseling and learned that I do have the power to change.
But, I couldn’t change it all at once. That’s not how change works.
I could find a way to bring back my smile a little bit.
I changed my response to, “What’s good about it?”
I found something, other than a grumbling growl, to say.
“What I meant was, I wish you a good morning” with a beaming smile.
My day was a good day.
Sometimes my cranky coworker smiled back.
Not always. Sometimes people are just in a crummy mood, and some people seem to be born surly.
But, that was not in my control, so I could let it go.
Practice
Through practice, I got better at saying what I meant and not letting someone else’s response change my mood.
This is why Echo, our Gremlin who represents self-concept, is so important to me.
Echo is how I check to make sure I am presenting myself to the world as truly me.
Echo is how I monitor my interactions with others.
If I get mistreated by more than one person in my day, I always guess that I’m not showing up authentically.
I can run into one grumpy person, but the second one proves the first one wasn’t just a fluke.
If people react badly to me, it must be because that’s what I’m giving them.
I can control how I show up. I choose to own my part in any interaction.
My efforts go into keeping my Echo as healthy as possible. It makes life so much more fun!
