Blog #593: It’s a Yin and Yang Thing

Let me share my Ending…
at the Beginning.

Get up.
Face forward.
WALK.

That’s my message today.

(Want a little more detail? Read on.)

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In every Extra Mile Thursday blog…

I look to my life for a story to build each week’s blog around.

Sometimes…my stories are found in my week’s email box.

Today, I’ll share TWO.

Both are from readers who UNSUBSCRIBED.

Hey…

The degree of our success is often determined by how we handle the dents life’s hammer pounds us with.

This is me handling my dents.

______

From “Unsubscribe Me” Email #1:

I signed up for your blog last week. I thought you would write about how to be more successful. I own a business and need tips on how to make money and manage employees. I don’t need to read about being kind.

Unsubscribe me.

My response to Unsubscribe #1:

Dear Friend…

Thank you for giving my blog a read…if even for a week.

I’m sorry you think I failed to deliver.

You mention wanting me to have written about “making money” and “managing employees”…and not about “being kind.” But as a final personal blog to you, I leave you with two thoughts:

1. Is it possible that by showing customers extraordinary kindness they might not only return…but they also might tell others about you?

2. Is it possible that by showing extra-mile kindness to your employees, in turn, they might demonstrate an extra-mile effort for you?

Just sayin’…

Both ideas have worked pretty well for me.

😊

I wish you giant success in your goals.

May you find exactly what you seek.

With gratitude for the chance to have crossed paths…

S.

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From “Unsubscribe Me” Email #2:

Hi Shawn,

You don’t know me and I don’t know you, but I’ve read what you write.

Everything is easy for you. Success and health come easy for you. That’s not true for the rest of us. I struggle every damn day. As a tip, remember there are more of us out here who are struggling to survive than people like you who easily succeed.

Please take me off your mail list.

My response to Unsubscribe #2:

Dear Friend…

Let me begin by agreeing with you: We don’t know each other.

But I sense more strongly than you: We are a lot like each other.

And although you think that everything is easy for me, let me assure you that it’s definitely not. Without being excessively revealing, let me humbly say:

I struggle with issues of age.

I struggle with knees that ache.

I struggle with the heartache of sick pets.

I struggle with reading mean social media comments.

I struggle with rejection from opportunities I wanted badly.

I struggle with AC’s that go out, tires that go flat, and refrigerators that leak.

I struggle with fear, defeat, rejection and failure.

Daily.

Can you relate to any of that?

And THAT is why I do what I do.

I write to remind.

Maybe I’m reminding me.

Maybe I’m reminding people like me.

But no matter what happens…

Get up.

Face forward.

WALK.

Could it be that we’re more alike than you think?

And if maybe (just maybe) I’m right about that…

then possibly you’ll think about subscribing again.

😊

With kindness and gratitude…

S.

______

Life was designed to be a yin and yang thing.

The sun comes up.

The sun goes down.

The tide comes in.

The tide goes out.

Life feels discombobulated.

Life feels harmonious.

Life is all of that.

And when life turns into more of what I don’t like, I remember:

Get up.

Face forward.

WALK.

I’ll keep doing those three things.

I’ll keep surviving life’s dents.

I’ll keep finding success.

I hope living the same philosophy will work for you, too.

S.