Why so negative? The little note that brought me joy
There’s always something to get worked up about. But what good does it do? So, this week, rather than telling you about what made me frown, I’ll be writing about what turned my frown upside down.
Recently, I got a bit worked up. Really fizzing mad. I was skiing in Davos. The weather was fine, the slopes, too. Only the prices of the ski passes were not. And that annoyed me so much that I had to vent about it here on the Galaxus website.
Apparently, I’m not the only one with thoughts on the subject. The numerous reactions from the Community in the comments thread speak volumes. One in particular, basically telling me to take a chill pill, caught my eye:
It’s also striking that my article got so many clicks in comparison to others.
The era of misery guts, whingers and trolls
Don’t get wound up – unwind instead. Okay, I’m in. I myself regularly get het up over the numerous whingers, misery guts and trolls who spout their venom on the web. All of us are always so negative. It seems to be becoming a national sport. But is it really necessary? Hang on, I’m about to fall into that trap again! I wanted to write something positive, didn’t I?
But to do that, I’ve got to take a brief look back.
We have fun together
A couple of months ago, we weren’t doing so well as a family. We’d moved from the city to the countryside. My daughter had to change schools; she missed her friends and was often sad. Our two cats were regularly hassled by the four-legged king of the backyard. The dog, who was noticeably tense while out for walks, had to get used to his new surroundings. And my wife and I felt a bit strange at first, too. Emotionally, we suddenly found ourselves on slightly shaky ground.
An acquaintance then suggested that we come together as a family every evening to write the positive experiences of the day on little slips of paper. Only the positive ones. My daughter, my wife and I have been doing it regularly for some weeks now. In doing so, we’ve compiled lots of memories of good times we’ve shared together. After some time has passed, we read them out to each other.
I fished one of these notes out of the jar today. On it, my daughter had written: «We’ve been having a lot of fun together lately.»
So I sit in the garden with the sensation of spring in the air, the jar in front of me and my daughter’s note in my hand. Thinking of our extremely complicated last few months, I have to smile. Yeah, we’ve been having a lot of fun together lately, despite everything. And yes, I know there’s a war. And yes, the pandemic isn’t quite over yet. And yes, February was too warm and March has been too dry so far. And yes, April will probably be a bit of both. Because ... climate crisis. Ooof.
Time to unwind. Or, as my daughter wrote on a little blue slip of paper a couple of months ago: «We’ve been having a lot of fun together recently.» She’s right.
Time to think more about what’s going well than what isn’t. My teenage daughter already seems to have found the recipe to unwind. Now, I have to do the same.
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Patrick Bardelli
Senior Editor
Patrick.Bardelli@digitecgalaxus.chFrom radio journalist to product tester and storyteller, jogger to gravel bike novice and fitness enthusiast with barbells and dumbbells. I'm excited to see where the journey'll take me next.
