Last night I graduated from Dale Carnegie class. It's been a long 12 weeks. I've been travelling back and forth 800 miles a week to North Platte for work and then attending this class on Tuesday night from 6-9:30. I am exhausted.
Part of my exhaustion is my own fault. I like to go out with the group on Tuesday nights after class. There's 19 people in the class and 8 to 10 of us will go out afterward. It's fun. And after spending the week alone in the wilderness of North Platte, our weekly post-class get togethers have been nourishment for my soul. Heck, the actual class has been pretty good for my soul too.
A few weeks ago, as part of an excercise on showing appreciation the class was asked to write down something we admire about each person on a sticker. On the last day of class we each got a sheet of paper filled with stickers of all the nice things people had to say about us. I told you this class feeds my soul. Here's what was on my stickers....
I admire your honesty and sincerity........coffee guy
Smart, Passionate, and Creative.........hearty humor guy
You are a VERY SMART, CARING person. You will go far & achieve anything. I can't say enough good!.......happy grocery girl
Professional & excellent manager; kind & sincere. Very driven and courage radiates from you. You are a star! ........ most popular girl
Smart. Makes the best of everything. Encouraging..........restaurant papa
You are strong, confident, and willing to take constructive criticism the right way. You inspire me.......department store "go getter" gal
I admire you for your heart and your ability to talk about things very personal to you.......Big teddy bear
A kind soul. Kind & friendly. Always looking for ways to better herself, and (my favorite) Goes with the flow......grocery gas cheerleader guy
A very sweet & inspirational person. Strong & very open with her emotions......... strong silent type
I admire your values and determination........big farm boy
Strong Presentation......game show host
You're very gentle with people and as a result they truly enjoy you as a person. ......George Clooney clone (this one's my favorite cuz I do try to be gentle with people but I feel like no one notices )
Very professional with all the best qualities of a manager blooming ........tall farm boy
Great personality and genuinely interested in others........hot rod mama
Genuine interest in others, hard worker, intelligent.........cheerleader girl
Very approachable and friendly. A positive person! Shows genuine interest in others! ........the chief
They are like signatures in a high school yearbook, aren't they? Ok, I know we were told to write nice things, but I still like reading them. I really enjoyed the class because of the people. Truth be told, the whole thing did start to feel like high school after a while, especially when we voted for outstanding performers in every single class. It felt like high school all over again and I started to hate going. The same girl kept winning everything and you can't help but like her cause she's so darned nice and she does work hard for it so she deserves to win. I felt the same frustration of wanting everyone to feel loved and part of the group and watched as they created their own hierarchy that kept them out. And, just like in high school, all the popular kids loved me, but I stayed just on the fringe, frustrated for the underdogs and never quite feeling comfortable being part of the "in-crowd" as long as there was anyone left behind.
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