I recently saw a post in one of my favorite business Facebook groups that really got me thinking. The group is filled with business women of all kinds spread across the nation – the group is for encouraging, bouncing ideas off each other and sharing in excitement and scary goals. The post was about a negative response aimed towards one lady’s professional branding, and what do we do, how do we respond when we get “hate” mail. The response to the post was awesome to see the women gathering together, willing to be vulnerable about what it feels like and how we respond when we get unsolicited, negative feedback. The range of comments made me laugh: some ladies sit down for a good cry and pout over why someone wouldn’t like them or their product while others add it to their energy ammunition and get pumped-up about being hated. Now, personally I can’t say I do either or would be able to suggest anyone to go to either extremes. 🙂
But it made me start thinking… How would our lives and businesses change if we begin Celebrating the Un-celebratable?
You may be thinking, “Is un-celebratable a real word?”
No I don’t believe it is, but go with me on this one. New made up words are fun! 🙂
You might also be thinking, “Ok, fine. But what is un-celebratable?”
Well lets see. How about when…
- the dog has an accident on the carpet,
- when you spill your morning coffee/tea,
- when the train slows down your commute to a business meeting,
- how about a technical difficulty that sets you back on a day’s work or a week’s work?
I am sure you can think of 10 more in less than a minute! Now tell me, how are you feeling just thinking about those?? Ugh, blah, boo! RIGHT? 🙂 Of course none of these are situations that we want to encounter. And yet sometimes they are bound to happen.
And now! I KNOW you are thinking, “Why in the world would I want to celebrate any of these terrible moments?”
The simplest answer I have is: BECAUSE YOU CAN.
Because it is your own personal choice at how to handle moments like these. And although our immediate reaction may be to kick the dog, throw the rest of the coffee, cuss at the train and go on strike at work until the technology is more reliable… what good did those reactions do for us?
Did it help or hurt the situation? And did it really honestly make us FEEL any better??
Not likely, no matter what we tell ourselves.
Instead what if we…
- Cleaned up the mess, and hugged the dog. CELEBRATING that you are able to have a dog and enjoy companionship that some people will never get to have.
- Changed our coffee spilled shirt, and instead of remaking coffee at home grabbed a togo drive-thru coffee and bought the car behind you a coffee too. CELEBRATING that a simple drink such as coffee has a wonderful and interesting amount of followers around the world.
- Turning up the radio and sing along loudly or calling someone who has been on your mind, since you are just sitting in line waiting for the train to pass. CELEBRATE the down time the train has given you, use it to your advantage.
- Re-focus to get the work done, even if it is the second time around. 🙂 CELEBRATING that you have a job to do, have the mind/body to do it and maybe share ideas of how to improve the current technologies.
Now, these examples may not relate to you at all, but I am sure a situation has come to mind where you could have chose to celebrate an un-celebratable event.
Leaving you today with this question,
What BIG and small things could we change in life if we begin to Celebrating the Un-celebratable?
I would love to hear what un-celebratable events you come across that can transform into a celebration.
Have an Outstanding day!
MUCH SUCCESS,
Sara