Make An Effort

If today I choose to be a Scrooge instead of a Cratchit, what difference will I make?

Most days, I don’t want to make an effort.

Maybe I didn’t sleep, so I feel like everyone should be nice to me. Or I burnt my coffee, and it kills me to know others get to enjoy delicious caffeine while I suffer this radioactive goop.

Besides, it’s just easier this way. Painless, even, to just act the way I feel.

If I want, I can even make a real show of it and justify my behavior with some nonsense about “authenticity” or some other self-help buzzword. #mindfulness #feelyourfeelings #holdspace

Then I ask myself a question I’ve been asking for a long time; is it helpful?

Helpful is subjective, of course.

Helpful to whom? Helpful to what? Helpful to my sense of pride and inflated sense of self-worth? Or helpful in a way that changes how I interact, and therefore, perceive the world around me.

If today I choose to be a Scrooge instead of a Cratchit, what difference will I make?

Not what difference will I make in the world — that’s too big. But instead, what will acting like someone just pissed in my oatmeal do for my immediate surroundings? Where will it get me, and where won’t…