As I walked into the warehouse yesterday morning, I was greeted with the question, “Connor, do you eat the ends of a loaf of bread?” To most this would seem like a strange question, but with my oddly passionate opinions on food, it seemed perfectly reasonable to me. “I never eat the end pieces” I answered, “because I see them as the beginning pieces”. At first my fellow crusaders seemed puzzled, but soon made sense of my different perspective on the matter.

I bring up this seemingly irrelevant conversation because recently I have had a change in perspective. Due to school starting back up, I am only able to be in the office three days a week, which I really, really hate. However, after looking at my situation from a different perspective, I’ve realized how lucky I am to work for a company that I actually want to get up and go to work for! It is truly an awesome feeling to wake up and be excited to go to work (after a cup of coffee, of course).

Anyway, happy Friday everyone! This weekend is going to be nice and sunny and in the high 50s, so if you want to know where I’ll be, you can catch me outside!

Yes, of course it hurts when buds are breaking. Why else would the springtime falter? Why would all our ardent longing bind itself in frozen, bitter pallor? After all, the bud was covered all the winter. What new thing is it that bursts and wears? Yes, of course it hurts when buds are breaking, hurts for that which grows and that which bars. 

I thought I would share one of my favorite poems today! It's called Yes, Of Course It Hurts by Karin Boye, a Swedish poet and novelist from the early 1900s. It's a beautiful and vivid portrayal of the fear that can hold us back from letting go or from taking a leap of faith - even when the end result will be something good or beautiful. The fear of the unknown can be #real. I love this reminder that though things may be hard and we may be fearful of what's to come, we may end up being be like the drops who forget their fear.

Also, here's a cool poster adaptation of this poem because isn't graphic design just the greatest? (Biased, I know).

I don’t know about you guys, but I for one am all about small improvements. Sometimes a huge goal like “be an all around better person this year” is just too large of an undertaking. If you’ve read The Happiness Advantage, you know that we’re a fan of making small shifts in our mindset to improve the bigger picture. A favorite and a little adapted concept that I practice from that book is telling myself 3 reasons why today will be a great day, before I even get out of bed. It’s a small thing, but it makes a big difference on setting my attitude to enthusiasm (especially on chilly Monday mornings).

I recently stumbled across another small mind shift that really resonated with me that I thought I’d share with you today: It’s switching your “I’m sorry” to “Thank you.” This tactic is for you if your first instinct after a small slip up is to agonize over the issue and apologize profusely, creating a semi-awk situation (I’ve been a pro at this for years).

Instead of bringing out the negative aspect of, for example, being 10 minutes late to a coffee date by apologizing and giving a numbered list of reasons why you’re not on time, try switching your attitude to that of gratitude by saying “Thank you so much for waiting for me.”

This will bring out the positive and gracious side of the situation, allowing you to move on, instead of unproductively brooding over your missteps. Before you start begging pardons for the spelling error that your boss caught, try saying “Thank you for the note on that error.”

It requires some practice, but taking the opportunity to appreciate the people around you instead of beating yourself up over something small will leave both parties better off in the end.