Should We Share Our Good News in Difficult Times?

So like many of you, I look around the world that we live in and I’m so saddened and scared even, like the issues going on in Europe and the invasion of Ukraine that is happening, natural disasters happening in Australia, gas prices all over the world. And that might sound silly, but there are some families that are really having to make choices between getting to work and feeding their kids. Like it’s just a crazy time.

And also like many of you, I am in a group chat with some friends of mine. And one of the friends in this group chat had some really good news. One of the friends in this group chat, but it was like something really good happened in their life. And they’re so excited about it and they wanted to share it.

And this friend talked about how he was hesitant to say it because it feels bad that so many people are going through this devastation. And so many people are struggling with hard times that he almost feels guilty that this really amazing, good thing has happened to him. And he feels guilty that not only so guilty, doesn’t want to share it, but like so guilty that he’s actually experiencing it.

And he was asking them in the group chat, is it okay if he shares this good thing that has happened? And I said, absolutely. In hard times, it is more important to share positive news because when you’re having hard times hearing someone else’s positive news will inspire you and remind you that the world is not all bad. It will inspire you and remind you that there are good things still happening around us.

Growing up one of my favorite books was the book that Anne Frank wrote. The Diary Of Anne Frank. And in my travels pre pandemic, I had the opportunity to go to the Anne Frank House with my good friend, Chris Iveson. And we walked around the Anne Frank House and talked about the history of World War Two. And we read some of the excerpts of her book that were on the wall.

And one of the things that Anne Frank said was in spite of all these troubles, the world is still a good place and we need good news. We need people to share good news. We need people to be excited. We need people to have a place to put their excitement as a reminder, that the world is still good. You know, this past week I did my first live lecture at a conference for the first time in a good long while.

So it’s been a long time since we’ve been able to get together and be around each other in a way that’s safe because of the pandemic. And this event happened in Washington DC, and I was able to get together with my team. And we would, at the end of our Workday, we would go sightseeing and we would have great meals. There’s this restaurant called Nando’s that I really love. And I was taking my team there and even amidst all this difficulty and all of the struggle, we still were able to create good moments.

And then after that, we drove to New York City, I had some meetings that I needed to do here in New York City. So my team and I drove to New York city, and here we are at Central Park, like, look around. Here we are at Central Park in New York City. And you can see how beautiful it is. And look over here. There’s horses and carriages and people sitting there enjoying the beautiful sights of New York city. And there are positive, wonderful things to be seen around us if we take the time to enjoy them.

And these things are reminders that the world is not all bad. So we need to have compassion for the people who are struggling. We need to have compassion for the people going through difficult times, but we also need to be able to celebrate and be able to spread excitement. And we need to be able to notice positive things.

We need to be able to spread happiness, because these are the times where it’s necessary the most. These are the times when it inspires us and reminds us that the world still has good in it. And I think these times more than ever is when we need those messages.