Future – Page 2 – Grandpa Bob Encouraging Leadership

Running Through the Tall Grass

“You will know that your children will be many, and your descendants like the grass of the earth.” – Job 5:25

This image of my granddaughter running through the tall grass lingers in my mind, a snapshot of pure joy and freedom. The grass climbs high as her shoulders, swaying in the gentle breeze as she runs, her laughter echoing across the open field.

The sun, high in the sky, casts a warm glow across the landscape, reflecting off the stalks and highlighting the strands of her long blonde hair. It’s a moment of unbridled innocence, an expression of life at its most carefree—a reminder of the potential and possibilities that lie ahead in her life.

Watching her, I’m struck by how this simple act of running, so natural and effortless, captures the essence of childhood. Children have an innate ability to live fully in the present, to see the world as a place of wonder and adventure. For them, the future is not something to be feared, but something to eagerly anticipate. Every new experience is a chance to explore, to learn, to grow. In her dash through the tall grass, we get a glimpse of how life is meant to be lived—full of energy, curiosity, and a fearless embrace of the unknown.

As the years (decades) go by, it’s easy to lose our innocence, our thirst for adventure. We may see our future with a sense of foreboding, even doom…rather than an opportunity to expand our journey. We allow the sense of adventure that once propelled us forward to be dulled by the responsibilities and challenges that life inevitably brings. Our carefree days of childhood disappear into the past.

The passage of time doesn’t have to diminish our sense of adventure. We can choose to embrace life with the same enthusiasm and curiosity that we had as children. We can still find joy in the simple pleasures, still run toward the unknown with hope in our hearts.

Life’s journey is not about avoiding the tall grass, but about diving into it, feeling the sun warm our backs and the gentle breeze cooling our faces. It’s about seeing each day as an opportunity to expand our horizons, to live fully and freely, just as my grandkids do.

The tall grass may rise like a challenge, but it is also where the most profound discoveries await. And as I step into that field, I carry with me the certainty that the journey ahead, like the path I’ve already walked, holds boundless potential.

In a field of tall grass she runs,
her golden hair warmed by the sun,
each step a whisper of freedom,
the horizon an open invitation.

I watch her and remember—
the world for me was once this wide,
full of endless possibilities,
before fear narrowed that view.

But the grass still sways,
and I can still run,
following her laughter,
knowing the path ahead
will bring great discoveries,

a promise of new beginnings.

p/c – My daughter, Julianne, texted this photo earlier this week of Lizzy running through the tall grass of their pasture. The moment I saw the photo, I knew the topic of my next blog post.

If Kamala is ready…

I always encourage strong leadership. I extol the value of leaders who take bold action, make decisions, who are prepared to fail, learn, and try again…all in the pursuit of excellence.

The President of the United States is often called “the leader of the free world.”

Maybe that’s why the moment I heard that President Biden is ending his reelection campaign today, and endorsing Kamala Harris for the job, I immediately started thinking of the things a strong leader would do with this opportunity.

So, here’s my short list of what Kamala Harris should do over the next 10 days:

She must take bold and decisive steps to show that she is presidential material; that she is the leader the country needs. This will mean stripping away the layers of spokespeople, surrogates, and others who often represent our political leaders. This effort is 100% on her and her alone, as the strong leader she wants voters to see.

She should immediately schedule 30-minute live interviews with anchors of each network (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, MSNBC, CNN, OANN, etc.), and 30-minute interviews with the top 10 podcasts (both liberal and conservative).

Making these interviews “live” events does two things:

Shows that she doesn’t need teleprompters, jump-cuts, or any other gimmicks to handle questions from news anchors or podcasters.
Shows that she can energetically express and articulate her vision for the next four years, and competently address questions from all sides of the political spectrum.

She should travel to 7-10 of the most contentious (“battleground”) states, visiting multiple cities in each of the states to hold campaign events. She should invite each of her potential VP hopefuls to attend as well so she and the nation can see what they have to offer in this “new” post-Biden environment.

When reporters ask her about the 25^th Amendment and why she hasn’t attempted to invoke it over the past year, she should state that while she hasn’t seen the need up to this point, she will be evaluating that need considering what’s taken place over the past 30 days.

This will put the nation and the President on notice that she may take action between now and January 20, 2025, if necessary. It will also allow her to step further outside of his shadow and stand on her own.

Does Kamala Harris have what it takes to show this type of strong and bold leadership? Does she have the energy and drive to pull this off?

We shall see.

She often says we should focus on “what can be, unburdened by what has been.”

This is her chance to follow her own advice.

What is your favorite quote?

I’m working on an autobiography of sorts. It’s a compilation of my answers to a series of questions. There are about 75 of them that act as prompts. Here are some examples:

Tell me about your childhood home.
What were your school days like?
What was your favorite fashion trend when you were a kid?
How did you meet your spouse?

The idea is that my kids and grandkids and anyone else who’s interested can learn more about my life as they read through my answers to these questions. It’s been a fun project that I’ve been working on over the past 3-4 months.

I just finished answering this question and thought I’d share my answer here:

Can you share a favorite quote or saying of yours?

Life is a journey, not a destination.

I’m not sure who said this first. It’s something I said for years before learning that it was a famous quote from someone else. Turns out there are posters and artwork that you can buy that highlight this quote. Maybe I saw the quote decades ago and it lived in my subconscious mind until later in life.

I don’t have anything against goal setting or visualizing a future and going after it. But it’s important to avoid having tunnel vision in your pursuit of goal achievement since you may miss other opportunities and experiences that introduce themselves along the way.

I’m reminded of a drawing of a stickperson on a ladder. They are locked in on their goal: reaching the top of that ladder before anyone else. This person even jumps over someone and kicks another person off the ladder in their effort to reach the top first. When this person finally reaches the top, they find that the ladder doesn’t actually lead anywhere. Their ladder is standing in the air and not leaning against anything.

The lesson is to make sure the ladder you’re climbing is going somewhere you really want to go.

When you reach your goal, no matter how lofty and difficult it was to achieve, you are merely at a new starting point or more accurately, you’ve made it to one of an infinite number of stops in your life-long journey.

The real goal should be to maximize your enjoyment of the journey itself. To appreciate the small things that happen, the surprises, the diversions, the successes and the failures, the people you meet, and the places you get to experience along the way.

Life is that thing that happens while you’re busy making other plans.

This one is closely related to the first quote. Life is a series of “nows” that are happening in real-time. You can make plans, point yourself in a particular direction, and even tell yourself that you’re in control of all the things that are happening in your life (spoiler alert – you’re not in control of all the things, you only control your response to all the things).

The time to start something new or something that will improve your life is always six months ago. While you’re busy talking about your future, it’s already happening. That thing you’re thinking about doing today but procrastinating while you do more planning will become that thing you should have done six months ago.

Plans are valuable, and you should have a broad plan with some key pillars that you can stand on throughout your life. It’s equally important to avoid hiding behind the planning phases of your life and forgetting to live your life purposely. It turns out that life’s happening anyway, so you might as well live it proactively and not reactively.

These are the good times.

The shortened version of this among friends is, “Good times.” Meaning these are the good times we’ll look back on fondly when we get older. No matter how screwed up something is, or how hard the thing you’re doing right now is, or how much you just failed… all of it will be lumped into your mind and memory as “good times” from your past.

In fact, some of your worst life experiences or life failures might even become the fondest memories you share in the future. You might reflect on how great something was, or how it was good that you had that failure or that heartbreak so you could apply what you learned later in life.

It’s unfortunate that we usually don’t realize this when these things are happening to us in the present.

The What If Game

I recently saw this advice:

Asking what if about your past is a waste of time. Asking what if about your future is tremendously productive. – Kevin Kelly

It’s easy to focus on what could have been, what you should have done, what someone did or didn’t do to you (or for you), and all the mistakes you’ve made.

It’s even easier to let all that stuff in the past dictate what you’ll do in the future. Our past has tons of built-in excuses. Excuses that help us stick with the status quo, protect us against taking new risks, prevent us from trying something new, or exploring where we’ve never been.

Our lizard brains love the barriers that the past can provide. Like a protective cocoon…one we never have to leave.

What if you choose your future without the limitations or excuses of your past?

That’s the harder and much more rewarding path. You might fail. You might be embarrassed. You’ll surely make new mistakes.

But you might succeed, and you’ll probably discover something you never knew you were seeking.

You can accept the lessons of your past as you drop the past from your thinking.

When was the last time you did something for the first time?

Did you take more than 30 seconds to answer that question?

What if you purposely pursue the surprises that come from diving headfirst into new experiences and adventures?

It’s time to find out.

Photo: My grandson, Charlie, boogie boarding for the first time (about 5 years ago). May we each experience the same joy when we’re trying something for the first time.

Exiting the Tomb of Pessimism

“We must strive to exit our tomb of pessimism.” I heard this phrase echo through the Cathedral during the Easter Vigil homily, a little over a week ago.

As Catholics, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ every Easter…His triumphant exit from the tomb, three days after his crucifixion.

In a much smaller way, we have a daily invitation to cast off our heavy shroud of negativity. To exit our tomb of pessimism.

To break the shackles of hopelessness and redirect our thoughts toward a brighter horizon.

If everything great begins with a thought or an idea, imagine channeling this power toward an optimistic future, filled with amazing possibilities.

It’s easy to stay in this tomb of our own making, looking through the bars at all the people out there who are clearly happier, more successful, and have all the things we yearn for.

The truth is none of them matter. They have no impact on us…except to show us some possibilities, some ideas, and some pathways that worked for them.

We have the power to rewrite our own narrative, to pivot our lives toward a more hopeful outlook. The choice is ours alone.

Escaping the tomb of pessimism demands courage and resolve. It requires us to confront our deepest fears and insecurities, to challenge the status quo of negativity that has held us captive and kept us comforted for so long.

Yet, it is only by confronting these challenges that we can find the promise of transformation. Only through the struggle that we can discover a new sense of purpose.

Will you remain ensnared in the confines of pessimism, or will you seize the opportunity to step into the light, and walk away from your tomb of pessimism?

The choice is yours.

Choose wisely.

p/c – Jelle de Gier – Unsplash

The Dance of Light and Dark

I originally wrote this poem eight or nine years ago. It was an exercise in using contrasting words, contrasting rhythms, active and passive voices, sensory symbolism, and a few other style toys that I thought would be fun to try (for a hobbyist writing nerd).

As often happens when I write, the theme I had in mind when I started was quickly overtaken by other ideas. The words and symbolism began pointing the way. A new theme slowly emerged.

Then, just as I was gaining momentum, some shiny objects interrupted, and I set this poem aside. A whole bunch of amazing life events started happening and years (eight or nine to be exact) came and went.

This poem sat on the hard drive of what would become my “old” computer. When I moved over to the new computer, somehow all the data didn’t get transferred properly to the new computer (or to any of the cloud storage locations I use today).

I forgot about the poem until a couple of weeks ago when I was looking for a fictional story I’d written. After some searching, I realized the only place it could be was on that old computer that we hadn’t turned on in years (and that we kept for some reason). Imagine my surprise when I was able to boot it up and look around on the hard drive for some of my old (nearly lost) work.

I found that fictional story I was looking for (maybe I’ll publish it in some form in the future), along with a bunch of other work I had forgotten…including this poem. Again, shiny objects intervened, and I didn’t get around to re-reading this poem until today. The toys I’d been playing with so many years ago were just lying about where this big kid had left them.

I picked up my writing toys and continued playing with the words, the styles, and the symbols. The theme that was there so many years ago was showing itself but in a new way that I hadn’t quite seen in the past. Again, the words and symbols pointed the way (just like Mr. Cox told us in eleventh grade English class).

I hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think in the comments.

The Dance of Light and Dark

Lengthening shadows descend across the forest floor.

The perpetual dance as day gives way to night.

Glorious palettes of color and light,

Surrendering to shadows in the growing darkness.

The air grows cold with the smell of decay.

Death wins a battle in its forever war on life.

Your heartbeat echoes behind your ears.

A quiet rhythm of life.

You hear the mournful wail of a distant companion, howling for a moon not yet risen.

Stars shine like pinholes through a curtain.

The moon rises in the distance, casting new light in the dark.

While creatures of the night toil in the shadows,

Hunting and evading, hiding and pouncing, dying and surviving.

They don’t know what their future holds.

Pain or comfort.

Life or death.

Trees moan quietly as they sway against the wind’s unending assault.

Each is alone in the crowd to persevere as they must.

These trees know without knowing that morning will come.

A distant dream in the long cold night that’s just beginning.

Morning brings new light.

An eternity of hope.

Wistful breezes carry the freshness of this glorious day.

The sun lends its brilliant glow to all that it touches.

A new day, with promises to make.

Promises to fulfill.

Promises of life, of love, of laughter, and joy.

This dance of light and dark,

Of hope and despair,

Of life and death.

An eternity before,

An eternity after.

This dance is our journey.

This dance is each of us.

Photo by Casey Horner on Unsplash

DAWA, Coronavirus, and Normal

I remember thinking how simple it all sounded, and I was relieved to know I had a model to follow. What I didn’t know at the time is that this simple model is anything but simple…

Denial.

Anger.

Withdrawal.

Acceptance.

I first learned about these stages of grief when Grandma Anne died (over 30 years ago). My cousin, who was a newly minted police officer at the time, described how he received training on this model in the police academy.

I remember thinking how simple it all sounded, and I was relieved to know I had a model to follow. What I didn’t know at the time is that this simple model is anything but simple.

Models provide a basis for understanding a concept or an idea…and that’s helpful. Models make the complex seem simple. But models rarely capture the layers of detail or the often-gut-wrenching processes they describe.

Today, the DAWA model is a bit outdated. Additional “stages” have been added over the years to the original model. Stages like shock, bargaining, depression, and testing are layered into discussions of the grieving process nowadays.

How does all of this relate to the Coronavirus?

Thanks to Coronavirus, we are suddenly sharing a grief experience with every person on the planet, at the same time. Every single one of us has lost something extremely important because of Coronavirus.

The normal that we knew, the normal that we understood, the normal that we took for granted…died over the last 30-60 days. If you could ask all 6 billion-plus people on Earth when, exactly, normal died, their answers would vary by a few days or few weeks. But nobody would deny that their normal is gone.

When we grieve or face a major crisis in our lives, we come together with others, we gather closer to the people we love, we comfort each other with hugs and shared laughter. We cry together. We cook together. We share meals. We share stories about what we’ve lost. We might go to an inspirational concert and hold hands while we sway and sing along with tears streaming down our faces.

We love to be with people, even if we describe ourselves as introverts or “not a people person.”

Unfortunately, that part of normal has also died (at least for a while).

While it doesn’t look like it (because our beloved normal is gone), we are all grieving. Every one of us.

Make no mistake about it. Something we loved, something we treasure, and something we counted on has died. We are grieving our loss, even as events unfold in front of us that may make things worse before they get better.

We probably don’t think we have time right now to grieve. But, we’re each somewhere on the DAWA continuum of denial, anger, withdrawal, or acceptance. In fact, we’re bouncing around on that continuum today.

We’ve lost our normal, and we’re being forced to live in a new normal. This new normal will probably give way to yet another new normal a few months from now. None of us know what any of this will look like. That mystery is an unfortunate part of our new normal (as crazy as it may sound).

It’s normal to be in denial. It’s normal to be angry. It’s normal to withdraw or try to escape. It’s also normal, and necessary, to find acceptance.

Acceptance doesn’t mean giving up. It means that the energy we’ve been using to fight the new normal can be channeled toward making the best of what’s in front of us.

Sure, we all miss our beloved normal from the past. We’d prefer to have our old normal back in our lives. But we must find a way to accept, to allow ourselves to rest, and let go of our longing.

The good news is that we’ve each had normal die before. We’ve had to adjust to new normals throughout our life and we’re generally pretty good at it:

Moving from one school to another and making new friends
Graduating high school or college
Starting our first “real” job
Leaving our first job
Starting our second job
Meeting the person of our dreams that we plan to spend the rest of our life with
Divorcing that person
Experiencing the death of a loved one
Becoming a parent (or a grandparent)
Starting your own business
Selling that business
Losing a house and everything we own in a fire
The knee injury that forced you to stop playing your favorite game
Having your house destroyed in a tornado

These are all examples of events in our lives that require us to let go of the old normal and embrace the new normal. Sometimes the new normal is because of something amazingly good, and other times it’s caused by something amazingly bad.

I’m not sure I’ve reached the acceptance stage in my own grieving process. I tell myself that I’m there, but I know it’s not always true. As I work through the process and prepare myself for what lies ahead, I like to keep this list of ideas in mind:

Take things one day at a time
Prayer is your instant connection to someone who loves you completely
Celebrate your victories, no matter how small
Give yourself a break
Be grateful and enjoy what you have
Forgive yourself for not knowing exactly what to do (none of us know, which is true a lot more than we’d like to admit)
Only allow yourself to worry about the future for a few minutes each day and move on. I’d say to stop worrying completely since worrying is a non-productive use of energy, but I know it’s not possible to eliminate it completely.
Check-in once each day for the news on Coronavirus, and what the latest government directions are (social distancing, masks or no masks, etc.). By now, you know the symptoms, what you’re supposed to be doing to prevent the spread, and what you’re supposed to do if you or someone close to you become symptomatic. The rest is probably not super useful, and you can catch-up on all of it during your once-a-day check in.
Be kind to others. Your kindness will go a long way and may lead to more kindness in your “downstream.” Even a smile to a stranger letting them know we’re all in this together is helpful. By the way, your eyes show your smile, even if your mask doesn’t.
Realize that you are grieving, and so is everyone else. We will each have good days and bad days in our grief journey.
Take time to gather with your friends and family members by phone, video conference, or even a nice email note. These are your people. Embrace them remotely.

We are living through future history. The events happening around us and to us today will be discussed, debated, and written about for decades to come. Our lives are forever changed, and the changes are continuing to unfold.

We can use our energy to reach back to the past with all that we have, searching for the normal that’s gone.

Or, we can channel our energy to reach toward the future, creating the best possible new normal for ourselves and our loved ones.

While I grieve for the past, I choose to reach for the future.

Photo by Mike Labrum on Unsplash

Time For a Reboot?

Reboots aren’t only applicable to technology problems…

I learned a truism about computers back in the late-80’s:

More than 50% of the time, a computer problem can be overcome by merely rebooting the machine

Sometimes this means pressing a specific keystroke combination. Other times it means simply unplugging the machine from the wall, and then plugging it in again.

Fast-forward nearly forty years, and the old “reboot method” is still effective at least 50% of the time.

Reboots aren’t only applicable to technology problems.

Unplugging from a problem or challenge, even for a short period of time, can shed light on a new set of perspectives. And, guess what…about 50% of the time, one of those new perspectives will hold the key to overcoming your “unsolvable” problem.

Rebooting doesn’t only mean disconnecting. It can also mean purposely switching up your approach, assigning new team members, changing up the words you use to describe the problem, or putting the issue into a “timeout,” so you can work on something else for a while.

Rebooting may mean taking that vacation you’ve been promising yourself and your family. You tell yourself there’s no time for a vacation. No time to disconnect.

Wrongo!

Denying yourself the opportunity to temporarily disconnect is denying yourself access to your most creative idea flow. The flow that comes from freeing your mind, even briefly, from your day-to-day tasks.

There’s a ton of power in the reboot, the restart, and the disconnect.

The answers to your most unsolvable problems lie on the other side of that reboot you’ve been avoiding (at least 50% of the time, of course).

Photo by Nadine Shaabana on Unsplash

Letting Go

You are not what has happened to you…

“If there are pieces of your past that are weighing you down, it’s time to leave them behind. You are not what has happened to you. You are someone unimaginably greater than you have ever considered, and maybe it’s time to consider all the possibilities that are within you.” –Matthew Kelly

How much baggage are you carrying from your past?

The mistakes you’ve made. The opportunities you missed. The disappointments. The tragedies. The could’ve beens and the should’ve beens. The people you still won’t forgive.

Letting go doesn’t mean forgetting your past. It doesn’t mean ignoring the lessons you’ve learned.

It means forgiving yourself and forgiving others. It means loving the amazing person you’ve become and letting go of the person you or anyone else thought you should have become.

Each of us is a work-in-progress. We have an opportunity every day to define our future. But, it’s impossible to choose our future while burdened with all the weight of our past.

It’s time to let go. Drop the weight. Drop the guilt. Drop the anger. Drop the regrets that quietly gnaw at your core.

Let go and prepare yourself for the awesome future that you choose.

As Matthew Kelly says, “You are someone unimaginably greater than you have ever considered.”

Photo by Gianandrea Villa on Unsplash

Are You a Time Billionaire?

If you live to the end of your 90th year, you will have lived 2,838,240,000 seconds…

I heard the term, Time Billionaire, a few weeks ago on the Tim Ferris Podcast (which I highly recommend, by the way).

There are 31,500,000 seconds in a year.

If you live to the end of your 90^th year, you will have lived 2,838,240,000 seconds.

Each of us is a time billionaire. We have billions of seconds at our disposal.

To date, I’ve used about 1.67 billion of my seconds. If I’ve slept for a third of my life (wouldn’t 8 hours per night be nice?), I’ve been awake and actively (?) living for 1.1 billion seconds. I have roughly 770 million more active seconds remaining (if I live to be 90).

How many billions of seconds have you used? How many do you have left?

It’s easy to answer the first question, impossible to answer the second one.

One thing is certain. If you’re reading this post, you’ve already used billions of your seconds, and you probably have millions more.

The most important question is: What do you want to do with your remaining seconds?

Love. Work. Play. Explore. Rest. Watch. Avoid. Climb. Run. Accumulate. Distract. Hate. Support. Waste. Invest. Achieve. Overcome. Reach. Reduce. Enhance. Ignore. Engage. Imagine. Share. Write. Read. Produce. Consume. Hide. Encourage. Recover. Experiment. Challenge. Destroy. Create. Build. Live!

We decide how we use our seconds (even when we choose not to decide, or let someone else decide for us).

None of us gets a second helping of seconds. It’s worth investing some valuable seconds to consider what to do with the rest of our seconds before they’re gone.

Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash