MondayAugust 11, 2014

Life on Life's Terms

The Coach is in my Head

The next day The Boss called.  "I don't have your goals for the year," she said in a matter-of-fact tone of voice.  "It's almost the end of January, so try to get them to me when you can."  

"OK," I said, "but I wanted to keep two goals from last year that I didn't reach."

"Which two?"

"Expanding into Ohio and West Virginia, and beefing up our home-study courses."

"Good idea," is what she said. What I heard, in my own internal voice, was 'you had to carry over two goals from last year, you parasite from the digestive tract of a dung beetle.'

"Are you going to fire me?" I asked.

"I'm not going to fire you.  Why would I fire you?"

I thought about my conversation with my wife from the night before.  My internal voice had become the mean coach.  I decided not to share with The Boss what the voice in my head was saying.  She never seemed happy to hear staff members were hearing voices, inside or outside our heads.

"Just kidding," I said.

Today I won't let the voice in my head be a mean coach.

  

Life on Life's Terms (c) 2014 by Ken Montrose

Freebie

This week's freebie is the Kindle version of Home Groupies a daily message book in the form of a novella.  It is available at  http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S.


To read Kindle books on a PC or Mac, you can download a free app at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000426311

Upcoming

Burnout: Clinical, Ethical, & Supervisory Issues
September 12, 2014 at Greenbriar-New Kensington
9:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m
$30 payable in advance, at the door, or by invoice after the training

This three hour training is accredited for:

• Addiction Counselors by the Pa. Certification Board
• CRCs  by the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification # 11938191652 and 11938191653 (one hour Ethics portion)
• Counselors by NAADAC #477 and NBCC #6352
• EAPs by the Employee Assistance Certification Commission
• Social Workers by the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work.

Other Blogs

 AArdvarks, a daily messages blog about a group of young people in recovery can be found at: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/6797222-aardvarks

Smart Bears, Angry Rats

Humans: We've made some progress

"What a depressing future!" my daughter said, as she read over my shoulder.  "What happened?"

"Because of the virus, the human birth rate fell, but Mother Nature went on a binge.  Most animals became much more aggressive, and their birthrates rose.  Smarter, meaner, bears learned to use fallen trees like ladders to get over walls. In two generations the cities had to be abandoned because of the rats in the sewers."

"No, I meant just two TV channels? Why do these people even try to go on living?"

I searched her face for some sign she was joking, but saw none.  I wanted to describe for her inspiring feats of human endurance, and list all the amazing things we've done, including landing on the moon.  Instead, I said, "Beats me.  Thank goodness this is fiction."

Today I will draw strength from what we humans have overcome, and what we've accomplished.

Smart Bears, Angry Rats (c) 2014 by Ken Montrose