Today is December 31 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is “how often do you take care of your own grass?” People who navigate the chaos focus on making sure their own grass is green. Each day they make sure their lawn is properly cared for. Caring for their lawn is not an infrequent event; it is a daily occurrence.
Reflecting upon her 35-year career, actor Juliette Lewis referred to taking care of her own grass and said in an interview published in The New York Times on December 27, 2021, “I think what you learn through time is that you have the ability to regenerate, if you put your heart and mind to it. You have to apply discipline and get out of your own way.”
Applying discipline, getting out of your own way, and putting your heart and mind to it are all aspects of caring for your own grass. This theme of personal responsibility to help yourself care for your own grass is critical if you want to navigate the chaos.
As Earl Nightingale, American motivational speaker, and author, known as the “Dean of Personal Development” once noted “If the grass is greener on the other side it’s probably getting better care.”
Variations on this theme include “If the grass looks greener on the other side, stop staring, comparing, and complaining and start water the grass you are standing on,” “If the grass is greener on the other side, there is probably more manure there,” or “Sometimes the grass is greener on the other side because it is fake.”
Perhaps the grass is greener on the other side because the people there take better care of it. Perhaps it is greener because they had to deal with more manure in their life and the residue of that is a plush lawn. And sometimes people use fake grass to impress others. At the end of the day, does it really matter?
As you end one year and begin another, ask yourself how often you take care of your lawn? Are you so busy thinking that the grass is greener on the other side that you ignore the very lawn in front of you? If so, why are you doing that? How is being jealous of someone else’s lawn, and its shade of green, going to help you translate one dream after another into reality? How much time are you wasting staring at the lawn? We are at the end of another year; 365 days have transpired.
How many dreams have you translated into reality?
How many dreams have you created for yourself?
Are you dreaming enough so that you always have something to work towards?
This Navigating the Chaos: 365 Questions to Ask Yourself series is a year-long and daily commitment to help you tend to your own grass. By increasing your self-awareness, studying how others have navigated the chaos, and reflecting upon your own actions and thoughts, my hope is this series has helped you improve how you care for your grass in some small manner.
One final thought. In MacBeth Shakespeare wrote:
“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time.
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle.
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.”
My wish is that you never feel as though your life signifies nothing. Your life means something. The world is a better place because of you. You matter. Your thoughts matter. Your feelings matter. Your love matters. Always remember that and as the year begins anew.
Remember to be kind to yourself.
Remember to be kind to others.
Remember to forgive yourself.
Remember to forgive others.
Remember to dream big and often.
Remember to take a leap of faith.
Remember to believe in yourself.
Remember to engage in self-care.
Remember that each day presents an opportunity to begin again.
Remember you have what it takes to navigate the chaos.
Cheers to a meaningful life and new year of navigating the chaos!