It's a beautifully ugly day.

Oh did someone mislead you to believe that you would find success and everyone would cheer for you to do well in a big crowded stadium of support all around you? Did you think everyone would come to that dream restaurant you started and endlessly talk about how the only thing better than the food was the service? Did you think you were the best boss ever since you were eight years old?

It doesn’t work like that. It doesn’t work at all for you. People don’t work for you. Not even your staff that you hired will work for you. You have to persuade them to work in a way that benefits you. Only a few will work to their detriment and to your benefit. And that is only an act of kindness with some sort of investment or expectation of legacy. People don’t crowd into stadiums and election polls for excellence. Listen to them. They want failure. They want damage. They want war without guilt. They don’t care who the enemy is.

People are not going to march if they can rest. People in sleep expect to eventually get out of bed. That is why being woke but staying in place lying down doesn’t work. Even when our eyes are opened, it is up to us to move our legs to the floor and walk them through the door. People are only going to cheer for what they are inspired to do. They will never cheer for you. They won’t do anything for you. You have to work for them if you want to love yourself. It is ignorant to believe they will love you as an alternative.

So don’t get woke. Arise. Ali didn’t meet Frasier in the crib. They met each other in the ring and practiced and won their way into an epic competition that empowered both of them. Some cheered for one. Others cheered for the other. Some won happiness. Some lost their happiness. Some hoped for an outcome that did not happen but refused to trade their joy for it. It is easy to believe that we would be uncompromising about our joy when we win. But we hope that by compromising our joy we feel better about what we gain when we surprise ourselves with an anxious win.

Why trade it? Why lose everything to play some stupid game, especially if we aren’t winning or playing alone? Just do the work to earn the paycheck anyway and be happy that you are worth more than you received back in return.  Or better yet, acknowledge that you have been blessed more than you deserve to be blessed. Acknowledge that more deserving people are not blessed to live with today just like you are.

So people didn’t buy tickets to watch you work. Then, be glad. You can tell them what they didn’t see by selling books and documentaries about the whole thing. They do not need to cheer for you. You need to cheer for them, because you need joy. And if they let you down, build someone up anyway, even if it is just trying to empower them again anyway. It may be a waste of hope. But it is not a waste of time. Your hope for them will be there and they may realize what you gave and they did not understand. And you know what? If they realize too late, it is okay. They will tell someone and somehow your hope will  be an inspiration to someone to make a difference that someone else will not be taken for granted.

So if you don’t mind, get over yourself  and help someone even if you have to help someone who disappoints you a million times. We have work to do and we can’t do it if you are just going to get all twisted into the  wrong emotions. We need motivation to make motions go in the right direction; not emotional trauma.