​I’ve always been annoyed by the phrase, “turn that frown upside down.”  Have you ever taken a picture of someone frowning and rotated the photo: CREEPY!!!
 
I was on a business call the other day and it was so refreshing that I could be myself: playful, joking, joyful.  Not the typical stuffy business call with a new client, but the type of video conference with a new marketing team where the two sides really seemed to click with ideas and the result was nothing short of amazing.
 
So why is it that we sometimes hide our light to try and play the part of a ‘professional’?  I’m kind of tired of playing that role.  And maybe coming out of this pandemic business will realize that things must change, which include not being so darn stuffy!!
 
If you are familiar with the program of Alcoholics Anonymous, they have Rule #62: don’t take yourself too damn seriously. 
 
And isn’t that the truth.
 
If we could all just chill the f&*% out (told you to stay tuned and you would learn the acronym CTFO), know that our country will continue no matter the outcome of the election, and that with a little bit of kindness on all of our parts and listening proportionately with our ears to mouth ratio, perhaps we can once again live in a world that I would be proud to welcome my grandbabies into (and nope, none on the way…but I can hope!!!).
 
Go in peace, take a piece, but don’t forget to leave a piece for the next!!!

​I don’t know about all of you, but 2020 is not a year where I’m going to allow anyone else to tell me to try to live a life in balance anymore.
 
With a pandemic, looting and rioting, unemployment out of control, a man that lives in a house that is white telling us that he is cured after just 5 days ill with Covid-19, the stock market higher than it’s ever been (give or take), Russia and China not rooting for the same outcome of an American election…shall I go on? 
 
Nothing is in balance.
 
So rather than trying to live a life in balance, I’m going to substitute that phrase or concept for the rest of this year with simply trying to do the next indicated thing and let the chips fall where they may.
 
I don’t have to try and control the outcome.  Heck, if I thought I had any part in outcomes then I would have pulled all my retirement funds out of the market on February 28th, then put it all back into stocks on April 1st.  Looking back, that seems like a logical thing to do…pandemic, crisis, panic, rebound… ‘merica.
 
So I’m not going to try and fool myself into thinking there is balance in 2020.
 
Sure, I can hear the naysayers out there: “balance is an internal thing Greg” …”it’s a state of mind when you calm your inner self and find your connection to…”.  Yep, I have one to say to those folks…there’s a place for balance, it’s on a beam, and there aren’t any gymnastics this year at the Olympics, or at the college level right now, so pffft to your theory.
 
Ok, ok, those of you who know me may be saying to yourself, “he’s gone off the deep end, send for reinforcements, preferably with a straitjacket.” 
 
But truthfully, I’ve never been better.  I just have a more realistic understanding that trying to make sense out of this year is an exercise in futility. 
 
So, perhaps you will join me in giving up the idea of balance as we approach ‘an historic election’ (as if every 4 hears our democracy isn’t an historic undertaking…sorry to those of you who are dramatizing this one over the previous 44) in a time of complete unknowing, find a way to do the next indicated thing, lower expectations, and just take deep breath with me and CTFO.  And if you don’t know the acronym, stay tuned to next week…just know it has to do with Chill… 😊