Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Learning Something New

Most days, work is work. I do pretty much the same thing... try not to get distracted by the vast amount of reading material sitting at my fingertips while working on this desktop. Hoping that my coworkers will ping me with something to give me a little bit of a smile...also hoping that my boss is not quite ready to meet with me so I can finish up the project OR hoping that I will get a second to show her that I'm finished! It's pretty standard to go to lunch at 12:00 p.m. on the dot, with temptations to get Chocs and Sweets at 10:30-11:00 a.m. or 3:00 p.m. The need for a beverage is often, but caffeine is to be denied if possible.

Some days, something will stir things up and create a diversion to the monotony of staring at my dying plants and buzzing computer screen.

Today my boss walked past and said, "Hey, you want to come hear a motivational speaker?" I looked at the stack of work that I had to do, and then watched her take two steps to the left past my door. OF COURSE I DO! So I jumped up and followed, down to the Executive Briefing Center and past the tray of Chocs and Sweets (the rice crispy treat was decent) and into the room. It was surprisingly small, and full of camera. I had not signed up to be on camera, and luckily my chair was just out of the shot. We were there as background people - you know the ones they span across to show them smiling, chuckling lightly, wiping away tears, etc. Yes, it is all staged. And hopefully I am not in any of the shots (I was proven to be quite a terrible actress as they said, "Try to be serious," and instead of looking somewhat forlorn, I looked across the room at my boss who was grinning and I started grinning back.)

Though the guy was incredibly cheesy, and a poor dresser (granted, probably it was an expensive suit...) I really thought he made a few good points. They are as follows:

1. Being discouraged or disappointed does NOT mean being depressed. Aside from the cases where there are chemical imbalances, depression is a CHOICE. A choice? You say. Yes, I quite agree with him. We can all get discouraged and life is full of disappointment; but to be in a state of depression is a sign that we are hanging out with the wrong people (people who tell us we are depressed and make us feel like it is out of our control). Motivational Speaker says, you can fix depression with the power of a dream. Yes, I told you it was cheesy. But I sort of believe him.

2. It's not what you do; it's who you do it with. There are so many connotations to this saying! I know how most of you will take it, but Motivational Speaker was suggesting this: Our environment really does matter. Who we choose to hang out with helps determine how we are choosing our life to turn out. The people that we spend time with influence us for good, or for bad. And you best be hoping that it is good. Do these people lift you up? Do they encourage you to serve others, instead of yourselves? If they do, then you are doing good. If they don't, I'd suggest new friends. Friends that tell you, "Oh, you're depressed and there is nothing really to do for it, you should kill yourself." These are not good friends! I am convinced that someone surrounded by good people, serving others, and CHOOSING to be happy, can be happier. Remember, we still get discouraged and weare still disappointed.

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