Keeping the glass half full

Grinnell Mutual

“Expect the best. Prepare for the worst.”

-Zig Ziglar

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Sometimes you need to walk your talk or put your money where you mouth is. I discussed last week that I, and maybe we, need to find more laughter and joy in our hectic lives. It is ironic that once you start to think about something solutions ?suddenly appear. These solutions were always there, I just was not listening.

I am a pragmatic-optimists who has control issues that I am in the process of recovering from. While I really believe that things will work out for the best when I have problems or issues the first thing, I do is analyze the worst outcome, the worst-case scenario. Then I determine how I will deal with the situation if the worst occurs. Once I figure out how I would deal with the worst-case scenario, which usually requires preparation and work, my views become optimistic. Some call this expecting the best but preparing for the worst. Unfortunately, this takes some of the joy out of life.

I recently had some surgery. The surgery could improve my life, or maybe degrade it. My immediate thoughts were how would I deal with the issues involved if my functionality declined after surgery. Once I determined that I could manage the worst-case scenario I focused upon expecting the best outcome. Unfortunately, medical issues, no different than our lives, are very complex. Each item resolved moves us to another issue to deal with.

My procedure was to last 4 ? hours. I was concerned about laying on the operating table for this long of period. It could reopen a bed sore that I got when I was treated for west nile disease when I was bedridden for almost two months. I told Renee I would be happy if I just came out of this without a reoccurrence of my skin condition. But my outlook soon changed.

The procedure ended up being 5 ? hours and I had no skin damage. The hospital staff did a great job protecting me from a reoccurrence. Immediately after this I reset my worst-case scenario and determined how I would deal with this it. Then when the worst did not occur, I repeated the cycle again, multiple times. The old wash rinse and repeat. Not a good method of letting the sunshine in and finding laughter and joy.

That was when I learn about Callie Levin a freshman Iowa Hawkeye from Solon, Iowa, who is on the Iowa Women’s basketball team. Growing up in Solon, which is 20 miles from Iowa City, she watched a lot of games from the seats at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. She wanted to continue playing basketball and to do it has a Hawkeye, and she did just that. Callie's gone from a star on a state champion team to largely a supporting role off the bench at Iowa.

She has yet to score her first points in an Iowa uniform. But head coach Jan Jensen says her impact is already felt far beyond anything she could do on the floor. Jansen states, "If you watch our practice, she‘s the one who's talking and positive, and leading. So she's got a huge role to play.” ?Callie says, "I pride myself in bringing joy every single day, no matter if I get ten minutes on the court, or zero minutes it doesn't matter to me. I'm always going to be full of joy because that's who I am. I'm always going to be smiling and very day I write in my gratitude journal. And I think about when I wanted to be on that sideline, be with this team.”

Callie made an unusual request to the Hawkeye coaching staff. She wanted to join what they call the Blue Squad-the group of men's players who typically practice against the Hawkeyes daily. Callie says, "When I asked the coaches, they were like 'What? You want to play on the Blue Squad?' And I was like 'yeah, I just want to get better'. I think that was a surprise to them".

Callie’s story was inspirational for me. She maintains the same outlook cheering for the same team and the same way she did for years as a child and an adult. She is also working hard to do everything she can to make the team better and to improve her game. If she worked at Grinnell Mutual, she would certainly be a fit for our wonderful culture. She would be a “Grinnell Mutual Way” winner.

I think it’s time to start my own Gratitude Journal.

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Owen Siebring (2025, February, 28) Callie Levin has gone from front row fan to Iowa role player “Retrieved March 8, 2025 “from” https://cbs2iowa.com/sports/hawkeye-xtra/callie-levin-has-gone-from-front-row-fan-to-iowa-role-player