3 Labor Day Lessons for a Happier You
WHAT … would make you happier at home? At work? Socially?
If you’re like me, it’d be some combination of …
- help (without having to beg, nag to get it, or re-do a sloppy job)
- safety (who doesn’t?)
- time to relax (ahhhhh…)
… Sound familiar?
Super pumped you’re on your journey here, turning life’s conflicts into wonderful connections … that make life better.
When you’re clear on what you need, want and what having it will do for you?
… no matter where — work, socially and definitely at home.
Just after Labor Day, which is ALL about asking and doing what it takes to have a shot at …
>>> Getting the ‘Yeses’ you need and deserve in life.
Whether those Yesses are spoken or acted … I want you to get the help you need and want 😉
Because YOU dear reader, are a person too. People create conflict … and we can resolve ‘em!
Have you noticed that holidays are oft born of conflict — that’s come to resolution?
Hardship? Tragedy? Sacrifice? …or Happier You?
It’s time for Labor Day Lessons, and these three, leap to mind…
… Memorial Day mourns military personnel who have died in the line of duty. These Americans asked for challenge and payed the ultimate price.
… Independence Day celebrates the Continental Congress’ Declaration of Independence. Yep, just think of it as the biggest “divorce” known to nations — as George III would not hear our forebears requests, pleas and demands. With the help of other nations, we ran his troops out of our home on this continent.
… Juneteenth celebrates the emancipation-at-long-last coming to the farthest reaches of America — Galveston, Texas at the time. Galvestonian African-Americans finally got their much overdue freedom. Freedom they and other Americans fought a bloody civil war to secure. And obviously, we’ve still more to go. We’re still working on the Liberty & Justice for All part of America’s promise.
Lesson #1: Big or Small, Make Clear, Unflinching Asks
While your ask may be big or small, the people behind these holidays and more — they made big asks, and not just once…
Repeatedly.
Persistently.
Every time they ran into roadblocks. And with the help of one another, they found a way.
They kept at it — because it was IMPORTANT to be more than a cog in never-ending cycle. While modest, they valued themselves. They kept going and would not stop. Would not give in.
Just as the holidays mentioned above, so was Labor Day founded with asks that did not stop.
Demands that finally found their satisfaction.
How? A whole lot of asking, demanding, strategizing, withholding and more went on …
That’s what it took to stop the horrid conditions, starvation wages, physical maiming, actual murdering and worse — that were part of what working women, children & men suffered.
Labor Day celebrates workers’ emergence from unrelenting oppression, on-the-job.
*** THANKS to Those Early 1900’s Workers***
We Enjoy…
- Weekends?
- Holidays ?
- Fair Wages & Relative Income Equality?
- No More Child Labor ♥️ (… you still gotta play team & do your chores kids!)
- Health Coverage ??
- Family & Medical Leave — to care for newborns, family or one’s own illness?
- … and of course, Workplace Safety??♀️
Lesson #2: Large or small, create something new, by briefly asking. Do not explain … lest you sink your own ship.
None of the wins, wrought by the American labor movement, had existed before our forebears asked and did not stop. The iron workers, steel workers and those who sewed, washed, sawed, hammered, assembled, boxed, welded and more.
Now we celebrate these freedoms and the safety America’s labor movement provided. All because Americans banded together and asked for decent treatment, decent wages, and workplace safety.
Did it take…
- …bold persistence & ask-ask-asking? Yes.
- …steadfast hard working people who were determined? Yes!
- …people who tried something, noticed if it worked even a bit, then improved it and tried again? YES!
It was on the road they walked to and from work, where they considered and planned. Back and forth, to the rickety factory-supplied shacks that gave them and their family a meager shelter.
Planning, yes. And …
Lesson #3: They banded together, were stronger together, sang searing songs together … and together, they lifted one-another up and got relief. A mighty relief, for which they’d long yearned and that many of us enjoy to this day.
It took time. And it worked.
So along with the three lessons above, here’s your bonus: 3 Top Labor Day Questions for a Happier YOU.
- At work: “…To make the deadline, you need to get XYZ out by TIME” <wait…> “The boss is expecting it.”
- Socially: “…I need our event’s date & time by tomorrow morning, that’s when I have time to get it out.” <and wait…>
- At home: “I need the trash taken out babe … so I can make dinner.” Or “I need your car moved darlin … so I can change the oil.”
Notice: They’re short. In the present. One reason. No backstory.
With asking, the work we’d not have Labor Day. Or workplace safety. Or vacations and the rest.
Percy Ross, one of my mentors, grew up in poverty, dreaming to have a bike. He used “the power of setting goals — and pursuing them” … and asked for what seemed like the moon and, just like the women and men of America’s organized labor movement, he got it.
I hope this for you.