Bloggers Unite On December 17

Bloggers Unite, a part of Blogger Catalogue, is encouraging bloggers to write about some good that they have done to kind of show the giving side of the people who write blogs.

I am known at my day job as a bit of a free spirit who is usually in a good mood, doing goofy things to lighten the mood, singing Christmas carols in July and August when the temperatures in Houston are high and high humidity is a given. I joke and kid around, often at my own expense, to try to keep a pleasant working environment. On a daily basis, I try to make at least 3 trips through the workplace to talk to everyone, ask how things are going, if there are any questions, concerns, or problems. I try to have lots of positive reinforcements for the work that everyone does.

Lately, however, our company has been experiencing growing pains. We have taken on several new, very large clients. We have had to change the way we do business in order to meet the requirements of these new clients. It has been a learning and growing experience for everyone from the top down. One of the "joys" of my job is that I am the bottle neck of the hour glass. Almost every operational directive and decision that must be given to the hourly workers, goes through me to be passed on to the crew. Almost all information, ideas, reports, and suggestions from the crew goes through me on the way to upper management. This has gotten even more intense as we add these new, larger clients. I often joke that on a scale of 1 to 10, my stress level is about a 16. My boss was recently diagnosed with "stress induced" diabetes. When his doctor asked him to list his stress level on the same scale, he said only 13. I told him I must be doing a good job if his was that "low." We both laughed and made promises to not let things get to us as much and to rely on each other a little more when things get on our nerves.

I mentioned all that to say this, I have gotten away from being the goof ball and free spirit that I am. I have snapped at people more. My patience has been almost non-existent. I would still talk to people and try to help but I was not the normally cheery and encouraging person that everyone remembered.

Last week, I became determined to get back to the normal me. I spent the weekend kinda thinking about the world around me, my job, my relationships, and the meaning of life. (That is just a fancy way of saying I was doing a lot of pondering on things!) I realized that I had gotten to where I hated going to work. This was a job that I had loved at one time and found myself dreading having to work everyday.

I am a firm believer that each of us determines what our attitude is. I had given up that freedom of determination by allowing the pressures of work to bring me down. I wake up each morning now realizing that me and me alone is responsible for determining what my attitude is going to be for the day. I am starting my day by determining that I am going to have a positive outlook on everything that comes my way. When troubles arise, and they are almost guaranteed to several times a day, I realize I have a choice. I can let myself get down and negative and be irritable or I can choose to maintain a positive outlook. Either way, I still have to deal with the issues but it is much less stressful by keeping the positive outlook.

So what does this have to do with doing some good or showing my giving side? i have gotten back to being a positive and supportive manager for my crew. Several people have noticed that much more like the old Eddy and people don't cringe when they see me coming their way. I am seeing better attitudes by my crew and that always translates into better production. I try to uplift and encourage even the people doing the most mundane of tasks. The Christmas season can be a very stressful time but I have noticed that many of crew don't seem as bothered as they did just 2 weeks ago when I was also stressed and bothered.

I would like to think that my renewed attitude had something to do with it.

Merry Christmas to all. This season can produce large amounts of stress but let me encourage each of you to remember, you are solely responsible for your attitude. You have do deal with the issues you face whether your attitude is good or bad. Make a choice that you are going to have a positive attitude and see how much easier it is dealing with even the most difficult of times.

(c) 2008 Eddy Seegers

A Poem

This is a poem that I wrote on April 28, 1988 for a young lady friend of mine named Karen. We knew a young engaged couple. On the Tuesday before the wedding, the groom-to-be was working as a delivery driver when he was killed in a freeway accident. Karen was a new Christian and was struggling to understand how God could allow something like this to happen. After many nights on the phone trying to help my friend through this difficult time, this poem just came pouring out of me. All of the events vaguely referenced were from actual events in my life.

Life, it is a time of no sure things
As we walk in the meadow, enjoying the cool breeze before the bee stings.

Why is there pain, suffering and sorrow; why do the good die young?
The musician puts forth a beautiful melody,
but the singer must leave before the song is sung.

A young man falls in love with a woman, and she with him-they pledge to become man and wife.
Why, oh why, when love is so true and full, that the young man loses his life?

A boy, in his teens, with a future to look upon,
Can only see the present struggles, says goodbye to only himself
and now is gone.

Sadness, sorrow, and suffering abound in this world, why is there so much pain?
Darkness throughout this world, every way we can see. Is tragedy all we have to gain?

As a child, I remember waking in the dark. Where is my mother? Why won't the sun shine?
But soon the night would surrender to the day, all things would now be fine.

We have the hope of the morning, we know that the sun will rise.
God gave us a Son that gives us a morning in the darkness,
a morning the is sought by the truly wise.

God's Son was killed but arose from the dead,
giving us a reason to enter into each day with cheer.
He lives, He walks, and He talks with us as we allow him,
helping us to face the darkness without fear.

The hope in my heart is Jesus, to whom I will join in just a short while.
Yes, life is full of uncertainty, but I can live life with cheer and show it with a smile.

(c) 1988 Edgar Seegers, Jr.

No links or encouragement today. I pray that each of you that reads this will find Peace and Happiness in your life that comes with the promise of eternal life. Merry Christmas.