The Little Things

Good morning - Chris Render - My College Success Coach - Coming to you live and direct from the Success Lab in beautiful Zeeland, Michigan. 

I’m in a fortunate position in that my work with My College Success Coach allows me to meet and work with a pretty outstanding collection of high school & college students. But over the past couple of weeks the topics of anxiety & uncertainty have dominated a lot of our conversations. 

And given what’s going on right now that is completely expected. It’s super healthy to get it out there & talk about. My worry becomes that we continue to talk about it, then we start to accept it, then we admire it, and eventually it’s just a quick Uber ride to a real depression.

We need to take different action in order to get different results. Which is why I was serious when I said to get your backside out of bed by 8am. 

That shock alone might be enough to completely reboot your whole system. 

You’ll get out of bed at 8 and won’t even remember your name … and you're certainly not going to remember what you were so upset about!

My wife wrote kind of an ode to her grandfather after he passed away last year, and in her grieving process she found a real wisdom that seems to also fit life right now for some of you. 

If you’ll allow me I’m going to read an excerpt:

Why is it these little things that make us so happy are most often taken for granted until they are gone? Often these so-called little things become the most important memories or part of our lives once we are separated either through long-distance or death. We recreate these little things in our minds over and over to bring a sense of joy to our souls. Now I believe all of this is natural and a part of life but I also think we can implement some simple strategies to be more intentional with our loved ones. 

1. Start a gratitude journal that you write in daily about your family/friends
2. Pray that God will help you appreciate and notice the little things in your life 
3. Talk with others who have lost a loved one and get their perspective on loss
4. Be still, listen and appreciate the: sunrise, sunset, birds, flowers, a smile, meal times, songs, nature, family devotions, church…...

The uncertainty of what’s going on right now is difficult, but man does it provide an opportunity to be grateful and stop taking the little things for granted. 

And when you're able to reframe things in that way you'll be surprised how much easier it is to get out of bed tomorrow morning. 

Alright - so once you're out of bed - be productive, be helpful, be successful, be safe. Reach out if you need to.