THEN AND NOW
In early 2019, the 10-year Challenge took social media by storm! To task: Post side-by-side photos of yourself from 2009 and 2019, showing how you had changed.
At some point, it evolved into the 40-year Challenge and I got ‘sucked in.’
Before I knew it, I was scrambling to find an acceptable 40-year-old photo and I discovered a black-and-white high school photo, a perfect match for a recent head-shot. (Feel free to have a good laugh before reading on. ??
My wife Andrea was amused, and when I suggested that we BOTH participate, she agreed.
We searched our old photo albums…the ones with PHYSICAL photos under plastic sheets that stuck to the album pages.
(Millennials feel free to consult Siri or Google)
Amazingly, I unearthed an old photo, and a sufficient recent counterpart.
No, the AFTER photo was NOT posed to match the BEFORE.
MAN, I was a skinny kid! (Maybe this newsletter should be entitled ‘THIN and NOW!’)
And Andrea’s AFRO! ??
Both sets of photos garnered multiple comments, but amidst the new ideas, experiences, and memes that flooded my social media feeds, the posts were soon forgotten.
However, they gave me reasons to REMEMBER.
They took me back to another time and place, when life was different. No Internet, mobile phones, NETFLIX, YouTube, video games…and the list goes on.
Suddenly I realized that experiences from my youth taught me crucial lessons and principles. I chose to embrace them and they still serve me today...lessons like:
Spend time with loved ones.
Enjoy physical activity.
Don’t be totally driven by ‘material success’.
Slow down.
Don’t repeat the mistakes and foolish actions born of naivete and immaturity.
Yield to the joy of simplicity.
Here’s my ask:
Reflect on your youth and ask:-
“What were my mistakes?”
“My successes?”
“What did I learn?”
“What had I forgotten, but now recall because I deliberately took time to reflect?”
“What concepts, principles, lessons, and values would MY 40-year Challenge photos recall, that I may have filed away?”
“How can I use those memories to INSPIRE my audiences?”
Let’s dust off the old photo albums. Let’s uncover the gems that have been hidden away in the attics and basements of our memory.
Let’s accept the challenge to SHARE those memories and lessons to uplift those who are so eager to hear what we have to say.
Let’s use our ‘THEN’ to build a better ‘NOW’!
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Inspiring Growth Through Connection and Chutzpah | Sales, Development, Fundraising Leader | Performance Improves When Success Behaviors and Attitude Meet Boundaries That Need Stretching
1 年This certainly resonates with me, Mark Brown, CSP, "Let’s uncover the gems that have been hidden away in the attics and basements of our memory." Regarding your solo pictures, aside from the bow tie, I could barely tell you had aged.
Professional Speaker ★ Helping Healthcare Professionals ★ To Be A Success ★
1 年In 2010, we were involved in a similar challenge that showed how we changed and adapted every five years since birth. However, life is known to throw unexpected curveballs our way, and in 1987, an unforeseen storm followed by a devastating flood swept through our lives. In its wake, countless memories were lost as our photographs lay submerged in the basement, consigned to oblivion. As we experienced heartache and despair, a powerful lesson emerged—a lesson in the strength of our mind. While physical artifacts may disappear, our memories persist. We refused to let our past be swallowed by the waters of fate. Instead, we summoned the power of our recollection and began to document cherished events in writing. Through this process, we discovered the incredible capacity of the mind to recreate moments, emotions, and experiences. Our ability to retain and relive memories through the written word highlighted the incredible potential for resilience and adaptation. Life was different. We still remembered our experiences from youth that taught us important lessons. They were not as clear as the actual photographs but we used them to laugh and also took some lessons we learned that were captured in the photographs in our minds.
Stay Out in Front?! Providing Powerful Competitive Intelligence to Executives Making Critical Decisions | Servicing CEOs, CSOs, CMOs, Brand Managers & CI Leaders | Keynote Speaker and Workshop Facilitator | CI Fellow
1 年Love the pics! I agree that how when we grew up provided such different experiences and lessons that those born in the digital world...not better or worse...just different. To me, there was a deeper human connection because the activities we did together and time spent F2F was super meaningful. I'll have to use part of this weekend to dig up some now and then pics...I know exactly the kind of photo album you described! ??