😁💗

I gave a speech last night at my toastmasters club and I talked about when I decided to be happy. I write my speeches usually similar to what I will paste below. Sometimes I just do an outline. This was for a storytelling speech so most of it was from my memory. I know this will be a long post and I fully get it if you don't read it or just skim over it. For What it is worth I wanted to try and contribute more to our little community here! God Bless everyone! I decided to be happy. Introduction: As many of you may be familiar I was blessed with a long career in the Air Force and retired a little over three years ago. Many years back I was talking with my wife and I was telling her I was thinking about Applying for a supervisor position on the Flight line. The flight line was where I started my career and at this point I was working in the Quality Assurance Office. She looked at me and asked does that mean you would go back and work on the flight line. I answered well I would be a supervisor there I would not be doing what I did before but yes I would go back to where I had started. What she said next set me back on my heals. She, matter of factly said something to the effect of “That would be good then you could be happy again” PAUSE I sat there in silence pondering the words she had just spoken! Usually when I hear something that I don’t exactly understand I ask follow up questions… but here I sat quietly pondering those words. “What does she mean I would be happy again?” She said this as if everyone but me was aware of this! Was I projecting unhappiness where I was currently in my career? Was I unhappy where I am currently in my career? Some retrospection/introspection definitely occurred after this event. I examined myself deeply and pondered why would she say that? When I left the flight line and went “Upstairs” to quality assurance that was what could be called the next higher level of management and leadership. I used to joke around that I used to think that my job on the flight line had a lot of “Bologna”. Or BS as they say but when I went to QA I realized that it was not even in the same league. In examining my current life in my job at that time I realized I was internalizing things perhaps a little too much. I was taking it home with me and my wife recognized it clearly.

Air, water, food, clothing, shelter - all physiological needs - then Safety - next Belonging - finally Esteem. We all start at the basic, bottom, first need of AIR when we emerge from the womb screaming and gasping for air. What a shock! Dark and warm to bright and cold! It could be argued that most of the first level are not 100% necessary to LIVE - we need air after 3-5 minutes - we need water after 3-5 days - we need food after 1-2 months. But clothing is in fact...optional to some degree. Safety is relative. What some need to feel safe, others need far less. Hermits exist. And in my opinion Esteem is overrated and can lead to arrogance at minimum. So why not redefine what YOU need. We've all heard of people who "have it all" but decide to end their life. And some cultures that exist with little to no resources, are found to be some of the happiest in the world! There are some needs that are...needed. But, beyond that it's all subjective in my opinion. Take some time to go to the CLASSROOM and look around at what's live and what's coming in the LIVE category. What are your thoughts? What's missing? Let me know in the comments.

What are some of your go to or favorite things to make at home? I have been doing more of the cooking lately and my wife is perfect;y fine with that. :). I started making bread instead of buying it ! I even bought this special pan called a Pullman loaf pan. It is really neat how it makes the bread perfectly square. What say you all?

What are some ways we can add more fun here? Do yall want contests or challenges or online parties or just what. Let's brainstorm.