MY TWO CENTS:
Comma: a punctuation mark (,) indicating a pause between parts of a sentence.
Period: a punctuation mark (.) used most often to mark the end of a declarative sentence.
Exclamation point: a punctuation mark (!) indicating an exclamation.
You’re undoubtedly thinking something along the lines of, “Why in the WORLD is Scott sharing punctuation definitions with me. Has he lost his mind?!?” And that answer is: I don’t think so…but maybe!
Seriously, though, this edition of MTC is intended to be one of encouragement. There is enough chaos, irritation, frustration, vitriol, divisiveness, and hate swirling around us, we sometimes need someone to give us a word of encouragement. So…please humor me for a few quick paragraphs to tie this all together.
At what stage of life do you find yourself right now? Is it all that you’d hoped, or are you feeling a bit let down? What experiences have you had recently that cause you to question your choices, perspective, or hope? Have you unintentionally allowed the crazy of our world to shift you toward an attitude of surrender or defeat or complacency or passivity when you know there’s more good to experience than your current thinking allows?
What if those issues are simply a situation of mis-placed punctuation? What if you’ve placed a PERIOD where there should have been a COMMA?
Recently, our 14 year old daughter had her first high school crush. This young man seemed to our daughter to meet the priority characteristics of faith, family, kindness, and integrity that she is looking for in a young man. And, their conversations led them to consider the idea of dating…once her mom and dad allow her to date in 10-15 years.
Then, something happened. An issue arose around their age difference because he’s a high school junior and she’s a high school sophomore. They decided to not pursue dating at this time due to that difference. She was certainly sad for a short period of time and started questioning her decisions to consider this fine young man as someone she’d like to date.
Now, you and I can look at this “puppy love” and encourage her to remember this isn’t the end of her relationship opportunities. In fact, it’s probably fairly unrealistic and extremely uncommon for the first high school interest to be the one we marry down the road. However, as I heard someone say long ago, while it is certainly puppy love, it’s real to the puppies.
What does this have to do with the “punctuation of life” concept? Our daughter, being a resilient young lady, realized quickly that this relationship hiccup was a COMMA in her life rather than a PERIOD and end to that part of her story.
Maybe it’s time to look at our lives and where we’ve mis-placed our punctuation. Maybe that situation where you failed or about which you’ve been frustrated, upset, or a bit derailed isn’t the PERIOD you’ve placed there and simply the COMMA that allows you to catch your breath. After the COMMA comes the rest of your wonderful story being written so an EXCLAMATION POINT can be placed appropriately for emphasis on greatness.
We’re in the business of helping people align their financial plans to serve the rest of their wonderful story. Nothing brings us greater joy than experiencing the EXCLAMATION POINT moments for those we serve, so please let us know how we can help change your PERIOD into a COMMA.
Make it a great week!!
Scott Cousino, CFP®
President