Happen To the World!

I have been having several conversations lately that have followed a common theme.

Things have changed. Our business has changed. Parenting has changed. The people we serve have changed. The people we lead have changed. I have changed.

How has the business changed? It is not as much fun as it used to be. I have less time to spend with my members and with my team. I experience less joy. I spend more time dealing with the unhappy. I have less balance. We can’t find people. People aren’t as committed. And the list goes on.

How has parenting changed? I have lost my kids to their phones. They seem down and unhappy. I can’t get them to go outside and play. I don’t feel they see me the way I saw my parents. I seem to be less of an influence than the people I don’t want to influence them.

How have the people you serve changed? They seem angry. They are more demanding and less appreciative. They seem less grateful and more critical. They get enraged over small things. They seem less joyful and less social. 

How have the people you lead changed? They are less passionate about what we do. They are unwilling to sacrifice their lives for their work. They are less willing to tolerate abusive behavior. They are questioning the vocation and industry that I love. They are harder to find. They need to know what difference they are making.

How have you changed? I feel drained. I am less resilient. I am finding it harder to find my passion. I have lost my mojo. I am not sure I am leading like I used to. I am not as much fun as I used to be. I am questioning myself a lot more. I am not sure I am doing what I am meant to do.

Wow! That is a lot!

A lot has happened to people over the past few years. There was a pandemic. There was isolation. There was divisiveness. Our social interaction has changed. The economy has changed. People’s jobs and positions have changed. Technology has changed. Our view of technology has changed. The way we talk to each other has changed. The way we think has changed. The way we feel has changed. The way we view acceptable behavior has changed. There are wars and hostility. The World has happened to us!

What can be done!

The suggestion I am making in this article is that it is time for us to “Happen to the World!”

On a hot summer day, I had the great privilege of sitting on the patio of a country club with a refreshing beverage and an interesting book. There was a table of some gentlemen nearby. Two of them were very upset and their voices were raised. I couldn’t help but hear that two of the five were very upset that there was no water on the golf course. I had played the golf course on many occasions and had lost a generous number of balls in the ponds on the golf course. They were upset that there were no water jugs on the golf course. Their level of rage seemed to be out of alignment with severity of the problem. Poisonous words were spoken, and the appropriate people were blamed and villainized. It was venomous and disturbing. One of the other men said “I bring two water bottles full of ice and water to put on my cart. I refill them at the 9th hole water station and if four bottles are not enough, there is a staff member on a cart selling beverages including water. How can you be this upset about this issue?”

The book I was reading was Lost Connections: Why You’re Depressed and How to Find Hope by Johann Hari.

I then read this paragraph.

“You aren’t a machine with broken parts. You are an animal whose needs are not being met. You need to have a community. You need to have meaningful values, not the junk values you’ve been pumped full of all your life, telling you that happiness comes through money and buying objects. You need to have meaningful work. You need the natural world. You need to feel you are respected. You need a secure future. You need connections to all these things, and you need to release any shame you might feel for having been mistreated.”

Two men were paying the price of having the world happen to them and one man happened to the world and was enjoying a nice beverage after a game of golf. The two men were missing some of the things listed in the paragraph, and they thought they were upset about water.

Happening to the World is owning our place in it. It is taking accountability for how we allow the world and others in it, impact the enjoyment, and impact our lives. It is the realization that giving the best of us is a gift to the world. It is realizing that making a significant contribution to the world is a possibility if we will dare to take it on. Happening to the World maybe showing up as a leader. It is realizing that on any given day we can Happen to Someone’s World.

One of my sons told me that the mantra in his house is “No victims here!”

I am not suggesting for a moment that horrific, catastrophic things don’t happen to people in this world.

I have spent time with several of them recently who are now Happening to the World. Helping those around us starts with deciding who we will be.

When I look into the eyes of my three grandchildren, I am uncertain about the challenges from the future world will happen to them. It is my hope that these three extraordinary humans will happen to the world.

Please Happen to the World in a positive and powerful way!