Our Struggle Defines Us

Hey, good morning team. So here we are for another Monday Message. We’re moving towards the end of August. As I’m recording this, it has been hot this week, super duper hot. Now, some of you are sitting there, going, “Man, we haven’t had hot weather maybe for a couple of weeks.” I do post these in advance. I put these together way early. But I have truly been enjoying, I mean, absolutely enjoying this summer. I’ve been spending some extra time with my boys. I have been able to get up early in the morning and spend time thinking about you and what we’re doing at Northwest Enforcement.

And a lot of that has to do with the people that we have on our team. So I want to shoot a quick thank you and shout out to our leaders, all of you who are leaders within our company. And to some degree, to the entire company. You guys make this possible. Your response to your leadership and the focus that you have for the clients that we serve. It makes our job that much more fun and that much more enjoyable. And so, thank you. For the first time in over 22 years, Karen and I have been able to take a little bit more of a break. We have been able to step back and spend time with family, and together. And again, that has a lot to do with you.

So let’s get into Monday Message. That’s what we’re here for, and that’s about our core values. Well, I read this quote by Pat Buchanan, and it is absolutely true and amazing. It says, “In the struggle itself, that you define yourself.” It is in the struggle.

So how does that relate to our core values? Well, I think of resolve. Resolve is not quitting, is sticking to it, driving forward, it’s improvising, adapting, and overcoming. It is in the struggle that you were defined. Do you quit, do you give up? Do you curse? Or do you yell, scream, and holler at your co-workers, or your family? Do you get ticked off at others? Blame others for your lot in life? I have done those things, so I have defined myself to be somebody who can’t handle the pressure sometimes. Some of you are hearing those words, and you’re going, “Whoa.” Yeah, I’m just being honest. The reality is that the struggle does define us. The things that we’re going through in life define us. And how we react to them is what really defines us.

So as you’re going through things in life, having a team, having great people around you, building that team, but in that time of building, you have struggle. You have times of deep regret. We have had team members here that we thought we could count on. And we turned out not being so counted on. We’ve had people leave mid-shift, literally and figuratively, and walk out on us. We’ve had people declare their allegiance only to let us down. That has been frustrating. That has been struggle that has created struggle for us in the past. For me personally, because it caused me to not want to trust. And of course, that lack of trust created in me kind of a pretty tough spirit where I got pretty angry and judgmental of those around me.

It was a change in me that let me grab onto that struggle in a different way. It helped define me and define what we do differently because I turned my heart and my emotions and my focus differently to work on the struggle instead of letting the struggle work in me. I don’t know if that makes sense or not. It sounded good when I just said it and thought about it. But ultimately, really, seriously, guys, I believe in what Pat said. It is the struggle, it does define you, and how you handle it, what you do with it.

I know I am certain that with a recession and coming out of this pandemic, and people still getting sick with COVID, we’re not stressed out and thinking that everybody’s gonna die of COVID now. But we’re still dealing with people getting sick, and we still have this hot weather that’s been going on and all the different things. And going to the store and finding out the groceries are 20-30 percent more and gas has gone up 18-25 percent, something like that. All those different things, all that struggle. How we handle that and how we deal with that, it defines us. It will define us in the midst of that struggle.

So how are you doing? On this Monday, how are you doing in the struggle? Maybe you take a minute here and you reflect and think about how am I handling this struggle? Am I getting more snappy at my brothers and sisters, both on the job and maybe literally your brothers and sisters, your parents, your kids, your dog, your kitty cat? How are you treating others? Because sometimes that is an eye-opening response to the struggle that’s within us. How we treat those that are closest to us.

Because we feel safe that we can treat others. You might not snap at somebody at work, but you’ll snap at your wife or your husband or your kids or your puppy dog, that’s right, because the struggle weighs you down, and you don’t feel like, “Well, I can’t snap at my boss, I’ll get fired.” So you go home and you snap at somebody at home, and they don’t even deserve it, and it’s usually something small. Toys on the ground. Yeah, they need to pick up their toys, but do they need all that extra anger and bitterness that comes behind it? And the reality is, you’re just struggling, and yet you’re putting that off into others.

I live near the airport, so I don’t know if you guys can hear that, but yeah, we’ve got a jetliner coming in and going in for a landing. Oh, it happens to be Alaskan Air, maybe it’s a friend of yours coming to visit. Maybe it’s mama or daddy coming to give you some love.

So again, on this Monday, guys, I just want to, you know, drop some truth bombs and things that have been on my heart, things that I’ve been working on and thinking about. I want to just tell you, happy Monday. In the struggle, you can make it. and you will define yourself to be a better person when you face the struggle and work through it with resolve and the passion you have and talk to others, talk to each other.

Don’t hold it all in, sometimes we bottle it up thinking nobody else is going to understand us. People understand. Apologize. I mean, seriously, go home this afternoon after work, give your puppy dog or your kitty cat a hug, your wife, your husband, your kids, tell them you’re sorry, tell them what you’ve been going through, let them join you and wrap around you and support you. You can do this together, we can do this.

So Monday’s over, well, Monday <essage is over. I just want to say, God bless you guys. Thank you so much for all you do. Thank you for struggling with me, with us, thank you for going through it together, we are better. So I want to just say thank you. All right, God bless you guys and be valuable because you know that nothing less will do.