Blog #610: Bad Day Repeat

On July 13, 2017…
An 87-year-old subscribed to this blog.

On November 3, 2023…
She’ll turn 93.

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Her name is Yvonne.

In getting to know her over the last six years, I’ve learned that she’s a visionary entrepreneur, a proud mom, a faith-driven grandmother…and a powerhouse of consistent positive energy.

In EVERY communication I’ve ever had with her…

She writes about hope, positivity, blessings…and life’s good stuff.

In response to last week’s blog, she did it again.

An excerpt from her email reads:

“On November 3rd, I will celebrate my 93rd birthday and, as a survivor of Stage 2 Colon Cancer, hip replacement and being legally blind, the pages in my life are still full of color. Every day, I reserve time to make telephone calls where I listen to the stories of friends and to provide encouragement.”

93-years-old?

Colon cancer?

Hip replacement?

Legally blind?

But seeing the positive?

You got that…right?

I did.

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In my response back to HER…

I asked how she avoids living bad days…especially two in a row.

She answered:

“Yes, we live in the real world and bad days are unavoidable. On these days, I turn to my coloring box of a wealth of audio books, a tablet with an external speaker so that I can listen to podcasts and the Vienna music conducted by Andre Rieu; all of which brighten my spirits. Above all my connection with people is a key factor for me in living a purposeful life.”

Yvonne continues…

“In listening to Dick van Dyke’s book, ‘Keep Moving,’ which he wrote when he was 90 years old, he emphasized the significance of integrating exercise into one’s life. In my professional life, I never saw the inside of a gym, but now I discovered the importance of moving for 30 minutes each morning.”

Listening to podcasts and audio books?

Feeling soul-enriching music?

Living a purposeful life?

Connecting with special people?

Exercising and taking time to move?

You got that…right?

I did.

______

Bad days and bad stuff?

It’s easy to have and feel both.

But feeling them and living them are two different things.

1. Why would we ever choose to hurt ourselves by living for hours a day dwelling on the bad?

2. Why would we ever choose to plant negative seeds in our conversations with others so that the “bad stuff” can grow in them…too?

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Absolutely…

We are entitled to having bad days.

If we live long enough…

Life will serve us a long buffet line of them.

But…

If we get to the point of repeating bad day after bad day…

Is that life cursing us or is that us choosing to curse ourselves?

______

“Bad Day Repeat.”

It certainly IS a way of living we can choose.

But my 93-year-old, wise-living friend Yvonne…

She chooses a different way.

You got that…right?

I do.

S.