Struggling, Trying to Make it, Positivity, and Getting Sent Home

50 percent of my friends or acquaintances I see daily exchange these phrases: “Struggling,” “Another day, another dolla’,” “Same shit, different toilet,” “Trying to make it do what it do,” “Just taking it one day at a time,” “Trying to be like you man; you got the best hand,” and “Just trying to hold on and make it happen.”

The funny thing is a lot of the times – there is no truth in these statements (at least from my end). Somewhere in adulthood talking about your “successes” became mildly “unpopular.” Now let me reiterate- I don’t mean the folks you catch up with once a year, but the neighbors and co-workers you see on a daily basis. For example:

“Kahn; how ya’ doing man?” “Awesome. Business is good, my daughter got an A on her spelling test and my son is up for an award in his science class. I’m feeling fantastic!”

You just don’t hear many responses like that. Is it because we feel like we’re bragging? Does it make us uncomfortable to be positive? Do we take our lives for granted? We feel like don’t deserve these daily successes? Is it because we always want “more” that we can’t be thankful for what we already have? Does the bad always outweigh the good? I believe it’s a little bit of all of these. A lot of us have certain people we can call and share our success with because we feel our core friends/peers just don’t want to hear any good news! Some of us have even ended friendships with certain people because they were too negative.

I once had a job that if any member of management asked how you were doing; you better answer “outstanding” or “excellent.” If you didn’t – you would get sent home (with no pay)! The company believed that the mood and energy of the staff carried over into how we treated the clients. So management never wanted to hear about your domestic issues, car problems, money problems, etc…. They wanted your eyes wide open and your attitude firing on all cylinders! And to be honest – it worked. Whatever morning funk I was in – I would make myself snap out of it before I got to work. Everybody spoke to everyone with good energy and earnest. Can you imagine if everyone if your circle was like that?

I’m sure if we greeted more of our peers with positivity it would carry over and eventually – the awkwardness go away. But this is just my perspective- I actually still don’t have the heart to reply to the “Struggling, trying to make it” line with anything but the exact same response. I guess deep down I feel that my friends with baby-mamma drama and dead end jobs don’t want to hear about my life. I think it would make it look like I’m throwing things up in their face. So I keep my mouth shut and only share my goals and success with like-minded friends.

Doesn’t make it right though…………doesn’t make it right


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