You know that exercise: What would you tell your younger self? An experience I’m having now, made me realize this would be one of the big ones for me.
I shared recently that I was going to be getting away for a wknd (this one) for the first time in a while. Maybe some friends & I are still kids at heart, but, we went somewhere where there’s sun, yes…but also where we can watch the craziness that is the first round of the NCAA Tournament…& even have a little fun betting on some games.
Each of us has diff means at the moment. Recently founding a nonprofit, I’m not gonna be throwing money arnd. Little bit here & there. And yet some of my friends are wagering near 10x what I’m putting down.
This trip has brought me back to my 20s…when friends similarly would get together. We’d save up for a yr to watch games on this wknd. Maybe even take a day or two off work & go somewhere to watch. Wager on games, or just fill out brackets. And here’s the big thing: I always wanted my friends to win…BUT (& I’d like to think it’s human nature when you don’t know better), if I wasn’t doing well, there was a part of me that was jealous when a FRIEND was. While I’d never root against them, misery loves company, right? If they went from being up to being down, I felt like I wasn’t alone.
I look back on that & want to smack myself ;). This trip has all been abt rooting for each other. Doesn’t matter how well I do/they do. It feels good to see my friends win. It raises the collective spirit when we can celebrate for ANY win, whether it’s ours, directly, or not.
Think abt how that extends to life, not just gambling. Marriage, kids, jobs, promotions, social impact. If we root each other on REGARDLESS of how we are doing at the moment, the collective spirit is raised. That IS good for EVERYONE.
