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I just got an email from the local National Public Radio affiliate asking me to come down and record an essay I wrote for their series "This I Believe". What an exciting honor! And the best part? No one can see my misspellings on the radio.
As you probably know, 88.7 FM, KUHF-Houston Public Radio is partnering with NPR on many projects. We're now teaming up with NPR to present local segments of "This I Believe". NPR has forwarded the essay you submitted and I'd like to schedule a time when you can come to the KUHF Studios and record your "This I Believe" essay for our local radio series.
I think your essay is great and believe it would be a great radio piece for our listeners to enjoy."
And my essay:
How many times have you heard this conversation?
‘‘How’s it going?’’ "It’s Monday." Or "‘Thank God it’s Friday.’’ Or "At least it’s payday’’
For years I heard people answer that question with those answers or not even pay attention to the question and respond with an ‘‘OK’’ in passing. I actually found myself doing the same thing more often than not.
One day I realized that I was tired of the life I was leading myself into. Part of it was probably related to hearing the Dave Ramsey radio program. When asked by a caller how he was doing he answered ‘‘Better than I deserve.’’ He thought about his response.
So I decided to start doing the same thing and answering questions with real thought.
I decided to be positive. I started out by thinking about the things that were making my life less than it should have been. I found that my life was pretty good. I have an awesome family. A job I love. Friends. Leisure time. Hobbies. I have a good life. The things in my days that were negative were fleeting.
After some introspection, I found that amongst time with family, time working, time sleeping, and general crappy-ness, most of my day was good. Very little was THAT bad. Most days are good days.
Then I made an internal scale of days. A great day is a day that has a child’s birth. Another great day was my wife accepting my marriage proposal. The terrible day on my scale is the death of my little sister. She was born on my birthday and was the best gift I ever got or will ever get.
I know it’s possible to have worse days. I’m sure mine can’t compare with some. But that’s my current scale.
So now, when people ask me how I am doing or a related question, I stop and think about the day so far. I think about my expectations for the rest of the day. I think about my scale. And I answer, ‘‘Today is a good day.’’
It’s amazing how many people stop after hearing that response. Then they ask me why. It’s easy to find something that made today good. Some days it may be that I woke up alive again. I have days like that too.
I’ve been doing this for a few months now. And I am hearing other people say it now. And I am seeing people smile when they say it; when they hear it.
The real point is that I am reminded by my own response every time I say it.
We all have different measures of success here at WC. If I can improve one person's life by hearing this I'll chalk this up as a success.
I wanted to share this with you all because . . you know . . we're family.
UPDATE 2008-02-01: The essay is now live. You can hear it here
