Encouragement

The last two weeks have not been great weeks. Personally, professionally, businesswise, there was not a lot to shout about.

However, in the midst of some dark days, a couple of strangers and a couple of friends offered words of encouragement totally unrelated to my circumstances. In other words, none of them knew of my trials, or of how these few words lifted my spirits.

There are many ways to charge folks up, give them a lift, or just propel them down the road to greatness. Some bosses, family members, or friends think criticism gets that job done. In all fairness, I have had someone criticize my work, suggest that I could do much better, and it has resulted (after a short pity party) in a better final product.

However, I can so clearly remember when I had the first chapter or so of one of my books in rough form. I took it to my partner. He read it and told me it was excellent, and that I should absolutely continue. That short bit of encouragement propelled me through the next year of writing, editing, and slogging that resulted in a published work.

Have you encouraged anyone today?