Beautiful People and "Ought To's"

There have been a lot of folks that I have looked up to in my life. A lot of those people I'm very close with, some of those people I'm not very close with, and some of those people don't even know I exist. Some of those people have come and gone. But a few of those people have remained the same. Those that have remained all share a common trait. Maybe even a few traits. But the one that I've noticed is resilience. No matter what, they're resilient. When the waters are choppy, they are the beacon of light coming from the towers on the bluffs. They withstand the storm and show the way. They are true to their values and their character doesn't change. It doesn't matter what cards they are dealt; they play their hand and find a way. They don't let the trivialities of life and politics determine their mood. They don't let the decisions of others bring up feelings of resentment or judgement. And equally important, they don't demand how others should feel, act, behave, or live. They might have their own theories and "ought to's" about life, but they don't press it onto everyone they meet in the streets. They don't send out a tweet into the echo-chamber abyss of social media. They don't pout when they don't get their way. They just have a certain grace to the way they live their lives. And I think that's beautiful.

In my last post I shared with you Jon Gordon's "One Word Challenge" and said that I would be sharing my one word.  So after some reflection, and following suit with some of the folks that I look up to, here it is: Resilience: the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.

The dictionary may have its own definition of the word. But living it might look different. It could be simpler, or maybe more complex. It might come in the form of shoveling the neighbors driveway, taking a cousin fishing, checking in on the grandparents, getting another workout in, eating a little healthier, donating a little money, volunteering a little time, teaching a kid something new, dropping a bad habit, taking a hike, finding a new hobby. It might look like me being the "only", it might be taking the task nobody wants, doing the chore no one will, it will be me telling myself "get up" when all I want is to lay down. It will be relentlessly chasing what I want, my goals, and aspirations. It will be me pursuing the man that I want to be. Continuously learning and growing. I don't know exactly what it will look like. But I know what it will feel like and I'll know, in the moment, what I should do. What I ought to do. And I'll do it. Because that's what someone who is a resilient sonofabitch would do.

I aspire to be more like these people and I think that emulating and practicing the values that they show and follow isn't a bad idea. Having the integrity to do so all the time is just one little way we can all do our part to make this place a better one, for ourselves and others. Because, you see, little things are the big things. When these little things are repeated again and again they form habits, and forming a healthy habit leads to a healthy life and a healthy life, on a broad scale and at large, creates a healthy community. And thus, we begin to solve the worlds problems, er the ones that we see in the news, and the ones that there are marches and rallies about. I don't know, maybe I'm just a bit more optimistic than everyone. But I do believe that in time, if we all try to just be a better version of ourselves, we can get there. Again, maybe that's the folly in me. Or, maybe I'm on to something. Regardless, I'll be trying it. All the beautiful people do... and everyone ought to.