The Spectacular Now, A Life Lesson From A Colleague And Friend John.
Better Awareness Leading To Better Choices And, Ultimately, To Better Results.
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“If you want to be remembered as great, if you want to be a legend, you have to go out there every single day and do stuff.”
At work, I love to work hard and also play hard. I love to send emails to my colleagues with memes, hashtags, and humor.
I sent an email this week. A colleague replied with feedback telling me that my emails have no place in the workplace. While I understand where he is coming from, I don’t share the same vision about how we show up at work.
John is the opposite of the colleague above. He is kind, always smiling, and always has a nice word whenever we meet in the corridors of our building in Blagnac, Toulouse. When I joined the Customer Support department, John provided me with training on communicating with customers.
One month ago, we met at the entrance of our building while using hand sanitizers.
Hi Ahmadou, said John with a smile. Hi John, how are you? I replied. Fine, thank you, I hope you are fine also, he added. So far, so good, I said. Then we wished each other a nice day and went our separate ways.
“John has passed away suddenly this weekend!” was what hit me at the beginning of this week. I was in shock, and all I could remember was his smile and kindness.
Now John is gone. A heart attack stole him from his family, from his friends, from his colleagues, and from the world.
Rest In Power, John. Your smile and energy will forever live with me. Thank you for smiling at my jokes at work and always being supportive.
As I am morning the loss of my friend and colleague John, I want to reflect on how to focus on the spectacular now. Because in the end, the “now” is all we have.
Yes, we can do nothing about the past. It’s already gone. We just can learn from it.
Yes, we can do nothing about the future. We might not see it. We can just expect the best from it.
