I recently read an article that said when life is tough, we should ask ourselves what we are learning from the experience.
Well maybe we need to ask this of other encounters and not just the tough ones. Recently I bumped into some people I haven’t seen in a very long time – people I’ve worked with and interacted with but a long time ago. I asked myself, what was that about, what did I learn from this and them?
Perhaps nothing, perhaps just a great chance to say hi and remember each other and another time, or maybe something else. All these people are in similar industries to before, they are still working and despite the media hype that says we should all be living on an island in Acapulco or other at this stage in our lives, we are not. We are working or working towards something else and in some cases towards retirement. For me it was a good reminder that these people of varying ages are all out there, vital and living their lives. One such interaction reminded me that whilst this person was in a good space it was their status with their family, their spouse or partner and their children that was their bonus; work was part of their life but it wasn’t their sum total and they were not defined by what they did – certainly not in their minds and lets face it, our own minds are the ones that matter.
What did your interactions and experiences mean for you today?