Blog #583: Leaving Bread Crumbs on Pluto

We live in vastly different places.

And…

I’m not talking about geography.

(I’ll tie this blog together with one short story…and two very different emails.)

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One short story:

In 2014…

I walked 550 miles across my first country…Spain.

As my walking days on this trek turned into a third and fourth week, I needed to create ways to keep my mental energy UP and my tired legs moving. One way I did it was to boldly encourage people I passed on the trail.

Great job!

This is a tough hill…but we’re doing it!

Keep it up!

Almost there!

I THOUGHT I was positively supporting others.

Unfortunately…

I learned not all people were encouraged.

At the end of one long day’s walk, I was sitting alone in a small-town cafe enjoying a finish-line Cerveza. Without warning, a woman with a deep German accent collapsed in a seat at my table.

“I hope I would see you! Why do you say, ‘Good job!’ when you pass? I was not doing a good job! I was not at work! I was walking up the hill…was tired and not happy. And then you tell me ‘Good job!’ I got mad! Why do you say that?”

I definitely did not see THAT coming.

A conversation between us started. My explanation of “being positive and encouraging” didn’t cut it with her. She wasn’t liking me at all.

Until…I bought her a beer.

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But the moment reinforced the lesson.

Not everybody feels like me.

Not everybody thinks like me.

Not everybody responds to encouragement.

When it comes to what motivates each of us…

we live in vastly different places.

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This week, the lesson was lived again.

Two VERY different email responses came from the same blog:

#1:

You’re rather Pollyanna. Don’t you think?

(No signature.)

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#2:

Dear Shawn,

A co-worker signed me up for your blog five years ago. In the beginning, I’d skim it and sometimes delete it when my day was full. But then one week, your words clicked. Now I read each week, often more than once.

Your blog has made a difference in my life. I now try to think positively and listen to my excuses. I’m in charge of myself. I never knew to think that before.

Shawn, each week you encourage me to Clap For Someone. I would like to clap for you. Thank you for doing what you do. I hope lots of people read your blog, because you make a difference.

Sincerely,

B.

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There are almost 8,000,000,000 people in the world.

With that crazy, huge number, there’s an enormous opportunity for you and me to run into someone EVERY day who thinks vastly different than us.

Some will feel like kindred spirits.

Some will feel like button pushers from Pluto.

In meeting both, we are impacted to varying degrees.

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Meeting those with vastly differing opinions can be a challenge.

How much do we allow what they say and do to affect what we think and feel?

If we care TOO much, we get pushed to feel:

Frustration.

Disappointment.

Anger.

Bitterness.

Inadequacy.

Helplessness.

Fear.

Guilt.

Loneliness.

Personally?

I have no desire to feel extra of any of those.

Do you?

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So yeah…

Some people will get us.

Some people never will.

But my thought is…

If we keep leaving the bread crumbs that we leave on the walk that we walk…

I think the right people will find them.

And for those who find the crumbs we leave and shout at us:

“Your bread crumbs are TOO stale!”?

Well…

Let’s not let them rattle our heads.

And maybe, just maybe…

If we’re up for a little intrigue and learning, we can do what I did for the German lady in the story above.

Buy them a drink.

S.