Yet so many of you don’t – and I completely understand. I agree that many of them are non-stop brag-fests
that can leave you feeling less-than. If
you believe them. And that’s the key to
enjoying them!
If you choose to read newsletters with the expectation of
being amused at people’s attempts to convince you (and themselves) that their
life is so totally, mermerizingly perfect, they will succeed in entertaining
you, minus the comparison-induced depression.
Think about it: you know the reality of your own life and it’s never
perfect. If you compare that reality
with the glorious, victorious image projected by others, of COURSE you will
think that they are doing so much better in life than you are.
Take a deep breath.
Take another. Take a third, nice
and slow and deep. Ready for a
revelation? Here it is: you can read, laugh and throw it in the
dustbin. Laughing is good for your
cardiovascular system.
You can also, if you are patient, help guide these misguided
souls into more authentic communication with you. You start by getting off the From Success to
Glorious Success treadmill yourself.
When my husband was facing a devastating layoff, I was
matter-of-fact about our worries for the future, and a request for
prayers. I share all the things I’m
trying in my business, not just the stuff that worked.
The big key to why good people (not the jerks of the family)
really enjoy our yearly newsletter is that I make it funny. Sometimes I poke fun at us, like the year I
was so frustrated with my boss at the university where I was teaching that I
took out my frustrations on the back hedge.
You can understand the depths of my anger when I tell you that I saved
us $1000 in hedge trimming services. You
can laugh when I asked for power tools for my birthday and hubby said
absolutely not, that he likes having a hedge not a low shrub! Or The Astronomy
Widow tells a funny story about hubby’s obsession. The crazy antics that pet parents get into
when one of the darlings is sick and needs a pill. The Abbott and
Costello-esque Victoria-does-home-repair.
Every issue has a deep point or two. One of us details a
profoundly moving experience at a funeral.
We share how we honored the 10th anniversary of earning a new
graduate degree, that put no money in our pocket but enriches our life every
day. A brave mama deer is killed by the
local cougar, and her two orphaned fawns are adopted by another mama deer, who
successfully raises all four to adulthood.
If you create a document that shares from the heart, instead
of showing off, you might encourage a wiser approach to life among others. The Grand Canyon grew over millions of year
through the constant action of insubstantial water on seemingly solid
rock. You never know what influence you
might be having, and you are 100 times more likely to be influential if you
stop trying to be!
As Shakespeare has Hotspur tell Glendower, “Tell the truth
and shame the devil!” If you start
creating yearly newsletters that are fun, that are real – though edited for
privacy and need-to-know – and that are from the heart, you next task is to not
give a damn what any recipient thinks of you, your life and your
newsletter. When you are in that blessed
place, you can mail your yearly snippet-of-life out with a joyous heart. A gift that is given with absolutely no
strings attached leaves you joyous and free.
A creation that does not rely on being praised floats high in the sky, free
of anyone’s ability to trample it in the dust.
Don’t give up yearly newsletters, grasshopper. Enjoy the creation. Set them free to float on the breeze, to
whatever new world they may land in.
you write well Victoria - people that write like that should write Christmas newsletters, but . . . Not everyone has evolved to the point where they can be honest with their friends and family, let alone themselves, The idea of seeing your own faults and accepting them as they are is way beyond most people. It's your fault! Is usually the order of the day. Merry Christmas Victoria
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