A Little Good News...
Wherever I go, whoever I meet, here’s the first thing I
hear….”I love your newsletter; I wait for it every week.” These are inevitably followed
by comments on Taylor’s Tunes or Chris’ recipes, my messages…most of all,
comments on how good it makes them feel. Often I’m asked what gave me the idea
to get it started.
Let’s go back three years and a couple of months to January
of 2009. Everyone was miserable. Everyone was depressed. The economy was
tanking and showed no signs of recovery. Businesses (like those of my
competitors) were closing their doors; companies were being downsized; salaries
were cut, benefits cancelled. Newspapers were filled with doom and gloom. And I
was fed up with it. I don’t like being unhappy and being surrounded by
depression. So I made a conscious decision that I was not going to fall into
that trap of “oh, no, poor me…I’m suffering.”
Instead I knew that the pendulum of life dictates that
though it swings in one direction, it will invariably swing back, usually
landing somewhere in the middle…and that is called stability. I decided that I
wanted to surround myself with just good news, and thus our Good News-Paper was born, in utter
simplicity.
See my opening issue that the EE team produced.
We emailed it to our entire email contact list and lo and behold got some very
supportive messages back. People liked it and encouraged us to keep going. Even
without their support, I had no intention of giving up. Why? I wanted to
feel good. So I scoured the Internet, the newspapers, and all media to seek out
only good news. I promised myself there would be no promotion (and oh, it’s a
temptation to promote) but only happy tidings from all over the world.
At the next trade show I attended, the feedback was
incredible. I was stopped in every aisle with a “thank you” of some kind and
the question, “Can I send this out to my friends and family?” Soon we
started getting contributions and our reach grew and grew. Every week people
contribute, and my team (bless them!) is fully engaged. The only time we ever
hear a negative comment is when one of Chris’ recipes does not appear, or
Taylor misses a week and then one of their fans is disappointed.
Everyone
has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don't know
how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what
your potential is! - Anne Frank
China. India. South America. Everywhere I go people are
still stopping me. Since I write about my grandchildren a lot, they now are
known in almost every country and their adventures (some with me) are commented
on worldwide. I can imagine when they are old enough to travel with me that
they will have a lot of friends.
I will never regret that in 2009 I put the misery of the
world behind me and sought to instead be pro-active. I don’t believe in waiting
for someone else to bring me joy. I’ll create it…for myself. And if in doing so
it brings happiness to someone(s) else, it’s an extra bonus. But I confess.
I started this just for me. So maybe being selfish sometimes isn’t so
bad, is it?
As Always, thank you for taking this journey with us!
Andrea
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