grAttitude

Posted on August 26, 2024 by Jonathan Ger, One of Thousands of Leadership Coaches on Noomii.

Like many of you, I become very reflective as the calendar year comes to an end. As we get closer to that final day, the image in my mind becomes more visible. It’s like being at the top of a mountain in January and being at the bottom of the mountain when the year ends. I’ve always seen that progression as going from up to down, high to low, top to bottom, etc.  What I haven’t figured out yet is whether I prefer one over the other and whether or not I even care which one I prefer. Specifically, what I mean is that I’m not sure that the change of the calendar year should be anymore impactful than our personal birthdays…our completion of a year of our life.
A few weeks ago, I got a bad virus just a couple of days before Christmas.  I was contagious and that meant that I would not be with my kids, their wives, my grandkids, extended family and friends. It meant that I would spend Christmas (& Christmas Eve as well as the day after) by myself; alone.  It meant that my wife would be without me and I must admit I had a little pity party for myself for a minute. I thought about my grandkids’ disappointment when they learned that I wouldn’t be there and my overall sadness for not being with those that I love and look forward to being with.
So there I am, laying in bed feeling sorry for myself, when my thoughts get interrupted by the sound of an incoming FaceTime call. The call is from my son and as the connection begins I see the smiling faces of my beautiful grandchildren! They get excited to see me, they talk over each other as they start telling me "it’s Christmas, we have lots of presents (including telling me that some are from me :) & “we miss you Papa!”
“We miss you Papa” allows me to shift into being in the moment.  I watch as my family spends this time together and I am overcome with love and pride. These are my people. The scene on the screen is of a family that wouldn’t be, if my wife and I had never met, fallen in love, gotten married, had children and raised them to know that this was an important value. Perhaps it was my illness, but I found myself feeling very sentimental as I allowed the thoughts of past generations to seep into my here and now. Momentarily, I was lost in a daydream of all of the Papas in my lineage and how blessed I was (and I am) to have come from these strong people who have always put family first.  This occurred over all of a minute or two and was abruptly interrupted when my grandson ran over to the iPad to show me one of his presents. The picture that you see was captured by my wife as she witnessed him coming over to me again and again and she, like me, was having a moment of love, pride & reflection.
Somewhere along the way, my emotions shifted to gratitude. I made the conscious decision to have an Attitude of Gratitude. I has thankful for the family I have, I was thankful for the relationships with my family, I was deeply thankful that my grandkids love me in the way that only a grandchild and grandparent can understand and that including me in their day was not because of a request by a parent or anyone else, but because they wanted to share their excitement with me; even if it was over an iPad. Believe it or not, I was very thankful & filled with gratitude that we had iPads and that we had the technology for me to “be there” when I couldn’t actually be present – in that moment and thereafter, I had received the only present that I needed or wanted. An Attitude of Gratitude for all that I am blessed to have and be a part of!
It’s all part of the Papa Perspective!