The Little Things
Yesterday’s challenge was to go an entire day without whining or complaining. I got lucky. I spent most of the afternoon photographing the MarketBeat Open tennis tournament, which meant I never watched the Vikings game. My wife told me afterward that they lost, and I said, “That’s OK.” What was I going to do, complain? Besides, my youngest son is a Lions fan, so I was happy for him. I can’t say that one day without complaining changed my life, but being conscious of what I was saying certainly changed the way I thought about things.
Today’s challenge is to notice the little things. We tend to take an awful lot for granted. A car that starts, electricity when we flip a switch, and hot water when we turn on the shower. Things we rarely think twice about until they aren’t there. And things that plenty of people around the world would be grateful to have.
The tennis tournament lasted an entire week, and after a while, photographing it started to feel a little like Groundhog Day. Thousands of pictures of essentially the same thing, just from different angles. Seriously, how many pictures can you take of a guy serving a tennis ball? But something interesting happens when I get home and start editing. I notice things I never saw while taking the pictures. A facial expression I missed, a familiar face in the crowd I didn’t realize was there, or something completely unexpected in the background. And then there were the little things the organizers did that made this year’s tournament special. Flags representing the players’ home countries hanging from the back of the grandstand (see picture), an in-house barista on several days, and even phone chargers available for the volunteers and people working the tournament. None of those things made the tennis any better, but together they made the experience better. Somebody thought about those details, and somebody made them happen.
So today, take a second look at the world around you. Appreciate the hot shower, the car that starts, and the people who do little things to make your day better. Maybe even thank a few of them. And when you sit down to journal tonight, think about the things you noticed and what life would be like without them. Funny how much you notice when you take the time to look.
