Six Things

When you reflect on your day, do you do it as a means of remembering something important, refining something that didn’t go well, or robbing yourself of joyous things that happened because your day wasn’t perfect? I attended two leadership conferences this week, and they both had a lot to offer. I even tweeted some of my take-aways today.

Of all the great talking points I heard today, one negative point just stuck with me all day. One presenter obsessed about being perfect, doing things perfectly, being a perfectionist. It nearly drove me batty as I tried to forget what I had just heard. At that point, he completely lost me. It would’ve been rude to walk out, so I zoned out instead and thought about all the good that had occurred in my day ’til that point.

Choose to dwell on something good. ~ Joel Osteen

So, I sat there and made eye contact, nodded, and smiled — all the telltale signs that you’re listening and engaged, but I wasn’t.  I’m such a poser! I was actually writing a list in my head of all the funny or awesome things I had experienced that morning.

Six Things

1. I got lost! Shocker! So, for lack of a better idiom, it was raining cats and dogs when I left for the conference this morning. I got there without any problem; however, I parked in an empty lot without noticing any signage (i.e. Lot A). One of my Partners in Leadership (PIL) texted me to “Take the footbridge, and keep going straight until you get to the gym. You can’t miss it.”
2. I met two friendly ladies en route to the foot bridge. One had her GPS (Garmin, I think), and I had my trusty text from my PIL. We followed this bridge to nowhere. Toes wet but getting in our steps, we turned around realizing that there was another foot bridge in the opposite direction.
3. A few people followed my traveling companions and me since we looked like we knew where we were going. We’re at a Leadership Conference; surely we know what’s going on. Hahaha…we’re all posers!
4. We made it to our destination with three minutes to spare. Along the way, we realized that we had a mutual friend and that we all had great vacations planned.  One of my “friends” is going to Iceland! The other is going to St. Croix. I’m going to The Big Easy.
5. Lunch was catered, and I grabbed the first bag I saw. Yes, I was adventurous today. It was a yummy chicken Caesar salad. Score!
6. At the end of the day, I ran into my Foot bridge Friends again, and we walked out together. For the first time all day, I pulled out my map to figure out which lot my car was actually parked in since it definitely wasn’t this one (unless it was this one and a bad guy had hot wired my car).

Let’s Dwell

1`. I get lost a lot, but I always make friends along the way.

2.  Today was like a family reunion. I ran into so many people that I’ve met over the last eight years. It really brought me joy to see them.

3.  The hugs were awesome! I remember writing a post last year about hugs being necessary for survival. Today, I have a surplus.

4.  Even when you aren’t completely engaged with a presenter, you can still find something of value to use (and I did).

5.  When I finally found my car 500 steps later, the sun was shining. I could use my umbrella as a walking stick or to fend off the aforementioned bad guys.

6.  I remembered that I had chocolate ice cream in the freezer and that I had yummy leftovers for dinner. Today was truly an awesome day.

Note — This post is in response to the Daily Post’s one-word prompt — Awe