Voice of the DBA

I’ve started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here.

Today’s tip is to decide to look for what’s good, even on difficult days.

I’ve had a number of difficult days. Some days I think most people just suck. Some days, I look forward and think about how the world might improve over time.

It’s easy to nitpick and find fault. Find a complaint. We see it constantly in social media, where someone can find a reason not to like or appreciate what many others might.

These last couple weeks have been difficult in the US for me. As a minority, I find myself angry, sad, and generally upset. I disagree with some people over their views, their posts, their thoughts, but I also know some personally and I know they are good people.

Our small, personal world where we shake hands, toast over drinks, and share meals is far removed from the larger issues of race, ethics, business, and politics. I try to remember that disagreement is just that, a difference of how we view things. Maybe because of some fundamental reason, maybe because of ignorance of naivety, maybe because of our experience and frame of reference.

I can still appreciate and smile at my friends and colleagues for the things that they do well, the good, the respect, the favors, and the gentle way they behave in person.

Even if I think they do a poor job of expressing themselves at times.

Try to be a better version of yourself online, not a worse one.

I’ve started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here.

Today’s tip is to look up at the sky. Remember we are all part of something bigger.

I am blessed in that I have a very wide open, beautiful sky where I live. Sometimes when I’m out at night, it’s amazing how many stars I see. During the day, there’s vastness as it stretches from horizon to horizon. Here’s a recent shot of how widely I can see.

I notice this, as it’s something I don’t get in NYC, London, or many cities, where buildings and narrow streets block views. The flatness of the land limits how far and wide I can look.

I think that sometimes is how I view the world, getting caught up in some situation, some problem, some challenge, and I think about things from a narrow point of view.

The world is amazingly large. Larger than most of us can imagine. The amount of people, land, money, resources, opportunities, challenges, difficulties, and more are huge. There is more that we are apart of than we can imagine.

If you have faith in a higher power, that’s another level that is worth remembering.

The world is bigger than any of us.