Sledding? Ice skating? Snow fort-building? Snow-ball fight? Snow football? Yes, to all of the above.
Growing up in Indianapolis allowed for the regular snow day experience. As a 4th grader, I remember the overwhelming excitement of turning on the news and seeing that my school was cancelled for the day. After the celebratory high-fives with Dad, Mom, and Marybeth, – my Mom would ritually start a pot of her famous hot chocolate (with marshmallows) and the planning would commence. How can we maximize the day?
The memories came flooding back for a mere moment last night – as Suzanne and I sat by the fire both receiving emails at almost exactly the same time. Her graduate school classes were cancelled for the day. Then I got a similar email saying faculty and staff do not have to report to work tomorrow. But shame on me, I kept reading – and the last line was that “employees who work remotely should continue operations as normal.”
That’s me. One of the few employees who works remotely. The elation was temporary. My snow day planning lasted for about 4 seconds.
Then I came to a “shame on me” moment.
· What if I maintained that kind of joy every day?
· What if I consistently woke up with a plan to really maximize the day?
Then I took a second to ask the internal question, what is stopping me from doing those two things?
So as you are enjoying your snow day, and preparing for another one tomorrow (because let’s face it, Kentuckians are quite dramatic when it comes to snow or even the thought of snow), let’s be asking how can we maximize every day? And more than that, what is stopping us from maintaining the “snow day” kind of joy?
-CK