A Note from the Associate Editor… 

Not all days are created equal, but fortunately we have another chance at a new day tomorrow. And as the saying goes, “every day may not be good, but there is something good in every day.” Unsettled Co-founder, Michael Youngblood, shared the following mantra with the Unsettled team, and we couldn’t let it go unshared with the Unsettled community. Without further ado…

By: Michael Youngblood, Unsettled Co-founder

At the end of each day, usually around sunset, I take a moment to say out loud to myself, “Despite everything, it was a great day.”

I find so much wisdom, balance, and agency in those 7 words.

For me, no matter how bad a day may have been, I have a choice in how I react to life. “Despite everything, it was a great day.”

No matter what happened, I can finish a day with a reminder, “Despite everything, it was a great day.”

With this statement, I choose to recognize everything, the good and the ugly, “Despite everything, it was a great day.”

I find balance in the negative by making sure to see the positive, “Despite everything, it was a great day.”

I remind myself of what I have and have to be grateful for, “Despite everything, it was a great day.”

When it wasn’t a great day at work, it helps me find finality in a day, as if I walked out of the office door, turned out the lights on the way out, and turned my attention to the next thing. “Despite everything, it was a great day.”

It helps me manage some big expectations and ambitions I have for myself, “Despite everything, it was a great day.”

It helps me acknowledge the reality of real problems while choosing how much they will linger on with me, “Despite everything, it was a great day.”

It makes this other mantra come to life, “Everything is okay in the end, if it’s not okay, it’s not the end”, just by saying these words out loud, “Despite everything, it was a great day.”

It helps me separate one problem from the next, personal from professional, one day to the next, “Despite everything, it was a great day.”

I think we all know why doctors say that they “practice medicine,” right? They practice at it to continually get better at it (and to let everyone know they haven’t perfected it). I choose to practice this; to get better at it and to let everyone know I’m still a work in progress: “Despite everything, it was a great day.”

I hope that this evening, you will take a deep breath and say out loud, “Despite everything, it was a great day.”