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Why You Should Never Settle.

Recently I have had some interesting discussions with Mrs. SSC, friends, and even people around the office. I asked them a fairly straightforward question, “If you could go back to your high school self and let them know where you are today, how would they respond to the news? Would they be surprised in a good or bad way, or nod knowingly and say, “Yep, that’s pretty much what I expected to happen?” Would your highschool self even think that you might have not tried hard enough and just settled for the easy route?” The answers have been pretty varied.

Mrs. SSC is of the opinion that her high school self wouldn’t be too surprised about her situation and would fit into the “yep, that’s about what I expected would happen” category. Meaning that she was pretty driven during high school and college and that drive to excel is what got her to where she is today. She might be more surprised at leaving a megacorp oil and gas job for teaching, but not once she explained to her younger self that at some point in life, happiness trumps making more money. Overall, the trajectory of her life seems to follow the path she set it on at a young age. Mine however, couldn’t be more different.

If I was able to tell my high school self where I was right now at 40, with family, education, career, and what shape our finances are in, first I don’t think he’d believe me. After I convinced him that this is legit and we really did “make it”, he’d be ecstatic. High school me would jump up, give me a big hug, a high five and hop around screaming, “F*** yeah, we did it! We DID it!” Quite honestly, even now I have to take a moment to reflect on where I’ve come from and really appreciate being in the spot I am today. I know that if I had been able to write a successful life story for myself back when I was in high school, I would have set the bar so low that I wouldn’t have achieved anywhere near where I am today. I would have settled for a way less comfortable and successful lifestyle in SO many ways.

Lessons Learned from “The Little Blue Truck”

It can be easy as the holiday season comes along to feel “too busy”. Just yesterday, I had the misfortune of going to a couple of stores that were already mired with holiday shoppers. I was amazed by the lack of civility people exuded, both in the parking lot and in the store. People didn’t want to let others into traffic, or they were jockeying for position to get that all important parking space. Even in the store, people were being unusually aggressive with their carts. Just stopping and letting someone else go in front of me, got smiles, thank-you’s and unusual looks, as if to say, “why is he being nice, what’s his angle?” Then they would rush onward looking for whatever was on their list. It reminded me of the story, The Little Blue Truck.

A few nights ago I was reading The Little Blue Truck to my youngest and thought it was a great message as we go into the holiday season. For those not familiar, here’s a short version. The Little Blue Truck is a story about a friendly little blue truck that says hi to everyone he passes as he drives around.

A Dump Truck comes barging through complaining about being too busy to say hello to everyone, because he’s “got big important things to do.”

Too busy to be nice. So sad... — Too busy to be nice. So sad…

When he gets stuck in the mud and needs help, noone comes except for the Little Blue Truck. He of course gets stuck too, but when he “Beeps” for help, the whole barnyard shows up to get them both out of the mud. The Dump Truck then realizes that he should be nicer and that “a lot depends on a helping hand from a few good friends.”

I like to think that the Dump Truck learns that being nice and not being self-centered, is good for everyone, not just him. It’s easy to get wrapped up in our to-do lists and forget about other people. We don’t know what’s going on in their lives, and they could be dealing with all sorts of stressful things in their life. We don’t know. So just try and take a few seconds when you are put into a situation where you can choose to be nice like the little Blue Truck or be like the Dump Truck and imagine you were the person, you’re about to mean or nice to. How would you like to be treated?

It’s know hard to always be nice and friendly like the Little Blue Truck, and I know Mrs. SSC would say I’m definitely more akin to drive like the Dump Truck, but I’m working on it. That’s all we can do. This week, if you’re out on the road, or God forbid, you venture into the shopping madness of the Black Friday weekend, try to be like the Little Blue Truck and be nice to people. I know they’ll appreciate it.

Articles with positive mindset

Why You Should Never Settle.

Lessons Learned from “The Little Blue Truck”

Happy Thanksgiving!