Randy and I turned off our cable TV in March last year. To save money but also to stop having a fire hose of hate pumping into our faces whenever we turned on a normal channel.
Since then I mostly get my political “observations” from Facebook. I RARELY take the time to “get informed” by any friend’s political posts. Ignorance is bliss, sort of.
My daughter regularly fills me in on how awful our system is, especially for her generation. I don’t debate with her about it (because it is better to just love your kids and let them be who they are, and responsible for their choices.)
When I did a survey last year of my Facebook friends it was 50/50 divided blue and red. That was interesting to me.
I was purple.
I kept (that I can remember) my mouth shut on my personal opinions for the most part and decided to not partake in the banter or debates.
On a few occasions I’d have a reply fully written to an extreme caustic post…writing out what I REALLY wanted to say very carefully. 90% of my “friends” are my “customers” and I have to think about making a living, right?
Most times I just never hit POST because, in my mind, my throw up back onto the original throw up wouldn’t solve anything and definitely didn’t make me feel better.
Plus, I sincerely believe my mom is out there watching me and my behavior and she was a super kind person that people said “has the patience of Job.” (I don’t know much about this Job, but he has got to have big-time patience for what my mom tolerated).
Today is a big day for all of us. Yesterday was the start of 4 years with a new Boss.
In my tiny little time on earth I’ve been able to have some of the most awful and fantastic bosses you would ever imagine.
I’ve had Leadership you would drive the entire place into the ground.
I’ve experienced Leaders that knew their days were numbered and they spent those last days getting people fired (or trying to) to either save themselves or have revenge.
They had dumb ideas, they were bossy and pushy, they thought they knew it all.
Anyone ever fought nepotism?
How about the boss that tried to sniff into your personal life and make you donate to a cult?
There were a few disturbingly disgusting. One of them would come to my desk and lean over my food breathing on it with their smokey-spit ask me “you gonna eat that!?” pointing to something I’d pushed to the side of my plate. Nauseating!
BUT I’ve also had dynamic bosses that empowered me to have initiative, be myself and take pride for good things and responsibility for bad things in my sections, departments, divisions and countries.
You really don’t know what kind of boss someone is until they are actually doing their boss job.
Holding other jobs before is a nice gauge. Seriously though, have you ever had a person move up the corporate ladder and begin making changes you LOVE or HATE? In disbelief I’d be thinking, “where did THAT behavior come from!?” GOOD and BAD (for the record).
I can remember each of them pretty clearly. They all made me the “employee” I am today.
My feeling now that we have had 8 years of Obama and are embarking on at least 4 years of Trump is the same as having a new boss.
You hope you won’t hate coming to work every day.
You hope they succeed if they are a good boss.
You hope you survive if they are a bad boss.
I don’t think anyone can really say WHAT is going to happen over the next 4 years. We can predict and guess but that’s just wasting precious time.
Did anyone know what President Obama would do? Change? Improve? Destroy? I don’t think so.
An idea to save your sanity a smidge:
1) Cancel your TV feeds. I firmly believe it’s all just BS.
2) Recognize the good things in your life (things you can see and touch and control) and focus on making them better.
3) Live healthier with exercise 6 of 7 days. Be sure to include GOING OUTSIDE.
4) Make progress on your “Dream” or “Bucket List” items. A little every day or week.
5) I have no idea how to tell you to read things that are factual. I don’t believe ANYTHING anymore (and I used to). Maybe I was way more gullible or influenced by the scientology cult. Just beware and possibly open to seeing other points of view if you don’t already do.
6) Don’t take it personal if someone throws up on you. Just hold their hair if they need you to. Being nicer is sometimes gross and you gag, but I firmly believe it is better than being an asshole. If anything, for the stress of it all!
These are my opinions.
If you have your own, cool. I still love you no matter what they are.
Sarita Shoemaker 