It was a week for celebration in my home.
Our oldest daughter turned 15.
Our youngest received two call backs for the 5th grade play.
Our middle daughter won her first wrestling match.
My wife won her first competitive tennis doubles match.
And my podcast won two golds – one for best interview show and another for most inspirational podcast.
When my daughter won her wrestling match, her coach picked her up in the air as teammates cheered her on.
When I told my wife about my awards, she screamed and gave me a huge hug.
Both are reminders of how good it feels to offer cheers and to receive them.
Earlier in the week, I had heard John Krasinski of The Office and A Quiet Place fame tell the story about when he was an intern for The Conan O’Brien Show. As part of his responsibilities, John would listen to Conan rehearse his monologue one final time before he took the stage. He was a great audience of one, always laughing at Conan’s jokes.
When Krasinski returned to the show as a guest years later, he was greeted as a returning hero. Staff members who remembered him as an intern shouted how proud they were of him. When Conan saw him right before the show, he told him how much he appreciated his former intern’s laughter. Paraphrasing he said, you don’t know how much it meant to me to hear laughter right before I took the stage each night.
The world could use more cheerleaders. People who are genuinely rooting for us to succeed and are sometimes, like my wife was, even happier for our achievements than we are.
It is a reminder of how important it is to continuously encourage each other and give pause to celebrate life’s achievements – both big and small.
I hope you take a few minutes this week to cheer someone on. After all, as Krasinski’s story shows, when it comes to encouragement what goes around usually comes around.
Cheers.