slogan for life

Marketing slogans are everywhere, trying to keep a phrase always before you that a company wishes to be remembered by, with the ultimate purpose of getting you to exchange your money for their products.  Sometimes, though, the slogans filter over into our personal lives and individuals seem to adapt them as personal slogans.  This would seem to be the ultimate sign of success for a particular slogan.  One that comes to mind is the very recognizable Nike slogan, "Just do it!", which dates back to 1988 and is still current.  How many times have you seen young aspiring athletes (or even frumpy "armchair athletes") walking around wearing "Just do it!" across the front of a T-shirt?  I don't think it is because they want to help sell shoes and athletic wear (although they are doing just that).  It is more likely because they want to live the sports dream that the company image portrays, or maybe it is nothing more than a trendy slogan to wear on a T-shirt.  Perhaps, though, they may be more than just trendy or dreamy... they may sometimes be adaptable as a personal motto to live by.

 

Is there a marketing slogan that you resonate with?  If you were adapting a marketing slogan as your life motto, which would it be?  And, why?  (Not a rhetorical question... feel free to dialog in the comments section!)

 

Over the past few years, there is a particular retail slogan that I resonate with... in a couple different ways.  In fact, having it roll around in my head on many occasions was the impetus for this blog post.  Mine is:

 

"Never stop improving".

 

Can you place the company associated with this one? 

 

If not, let me help you out a bit...
 

Lowes.  Never stop improving.
 

Yeah, I am the poster child for this one!  Ever seen the 1986 comedy The Money Pit, staring Tom Hanks and Shelley Long?  Some days Most days, I feel like I live there!  Lowes loves me!  It seems I bought a home on which I can "never stop improving".  (Dumb, dumb, dumb!)  I have lived the slogan for the past several years (and still living it).  I am not particularly fond of my resonance with this slogan in that sense (sorry, Lowes!)  But, wait, there is more!
 

Just like my home, I can personally "never stop improving".  My forth decade is driving this message home in many (some hard) ways.  For three decades, I was pretty okay with who I was.  I was far from perfect, but for the most part, I liked myself.

But, a few factors hit me as I rounded the corner of my forth decade.  One, I naturally became more reflective.  And, two... around this time life seemed to chew me up and spit me out.  Not once... but multiple times.

My forth decade seemed to become a period of looking in life's mirror and not liking what I saw.  No... I'm not talking about the grey and the balding!  Not that mirror! 

I'm talking about anger. 

I'm talking about strictness. 

I'm talking about controlling. 

I'm talking about inflexibility.

I'm talking about emotionally hurting those I wanted the most to love.

I'm talking about realizing the man/husband/dad I am and the man/husband/dad I want to be are two different people... and not really knowing how or when it happened.

I'm talking about needing a change.

In the forth decade, though, change comes hard.  It sometimes comes slow.  It sometimes comes with setbacks.  But, I'm working on it. 

My biggest hurdle was admitting that I should seek help.  Not admitting it to myself... no, that wasn't really a problem.  But, admitting it to anyone else.  I thought counselling was for the weak.  I thought counselling was for the helpless.  I feared the stigma of what others would think if I consulted a [gasp] "shrink"! 

But, in reality, what would others think if they saw me driving ridiculously because my temper got the best of me? Or, if they knew that I ridiculed my wife for driving the car one too many times in a month to visit her family? Or, if they knew that I discouraged my kids from sports involvement just because I did not like sports?

Kinda silly when you put it in perspective, but stigmas keep many people from doing what might be best for them.

Real men don't need no stinkin' counsellor, right? 

Wrong!

Real men recognize a problem and do what it takes to fix it... a lesson that took me a while to learn. 

Spanning 2011 and 2012, I spent about a year and a half in counselling with a Christian psychologist/therapist, working on that image that I didn't like in life's mirror.

Yep... I sought counselling! 

And, you know what? 

I don't think anyone thinks the less of me for it.  Yeah... it turns out that stigma thing... I think it was all just imagined!

So, what do I see when I look in life's mirror now?  Well, that depends on the day.  Some days are better than others.  Remember that thing I said about change in the forth decade being hard... and slow... and having setbacks?  Yeah, there's that.  But overall, I'm starting to like myself better.  I learned a lot about myself and a lot about the things I need to do to work toward making that man/husband/dad I am and the man/husband/dad I want to be more closely resemble each other. 

Oh, I'm far from arriving there, but I feel like I am headed in the right direction.  And, now that I have been given some tools to work with, I need to...

Never stop improving!