Celebrating My Birthday With Strangers 🎂
How aware of and grateful are we for all the people who contribute to our happiness?
Yesterday I celebrated another birthday. For some reason I like looking for patterns in numbers and days so I especially enjoyed the fact my birthday and the year match this year: 1/23/23. This will be the only time in my life where the date of my birth matches the year. Â
To celebrate my birthday, we did what is becoming an annual tradition. We eat at my favorite restaurant in Austin and then I stop by Kendra Scott’s jewelry store for the 50% birthday discount. This year I selected a lovely silver and black necklace.
We also stopped by Whole Foods Market to pick up a small birthday cake for our family to enjoy at home together. As we were walking the aisles, I started to think about all the work and effort that goes into creating just one store and all its products.
That one box of crackers I selected for my son—how many people were involved in making it? From the wheat that was grown, to the salt used to flavor it, to the packaging, to the marketing, there were probably hundreds of people who worked to make this one product. And in a grocery store, there are hundreds of products.
At the bakery, I thought about how someone skillfully iced the cake that another person had baked. They artfully arranged fruit on top for decoration. The kind employee who waved at my son as he boxed the cake, how many people had he interacted with today during his shift? What other responsibilities did he have?
Who was responsible for making sure the cake refrigeration system was functioning? Who replaced the light bulbs that light the bakery section? Who cleaned the floors and wiped down the counters so the products and their preparation area were sanitary?
This sudden increase in my consciousness made me immensely grateful for all the people I’ll never meet who are so important to my daily life. I also wondered how many of them are happy in their job. For that bakery worker, was this just a job to pay the bills while he works toward his real dreams? Or does he genuinely enjoy the art of baking and serving customers?
This conscious awareness helped me realize that we all really are connected. And while mixing icing or harvesting wheat may seem like a mundane or unimportant job, that person is feeding their community or is contributing to someone’s birthday celebration. We may be strangers, but we are helping each other. That’s why I’m so passionate about coaching and creating the workplace of the future: a place where we can all thrive, not just survive.
Perhaps part of this new level of consciousness was prompted by the interview I recently heard about the terrible conditions at the bottom of the global battery supply chain. That’s why it’s so important for all of us to continue educating ourselves and increasing our conscious awareness. As we grow in understanding, our consciousness increases, which means we can help BE the change we want to see in the world.
This week, as you go about your work or daily life, consider all the people who contribute to every item you use, or every service you enjoy. How can we make their work and life better, just as they have made ours better? Whether you’re an employer or employee, we can all look for ways to uplift our fellow human beings.
Work happy. Live happy. BE happy.
Meredith
The way we work and build teams is rapidly changing. Leaders often feel unprepared to navigate the transition. As a conscious leadership coach, consultant and communicator, Meredith helps leaders and their teams create new ways of working and relating so they can prepare for the future by consciously co-creating it.
Contact her to develop your conscious leadership and transform your organization into the workplace of the future.
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