“Where’s The Pony?”

“He felt an uncertainty in the air, a feeling of change and of loss and of the gain of new and unfamiliar things.” –The Red Pony by John Steinbeck

There’s an age old story about optimists and pessimists which goes something like this…

It’s Christmas morning and two young brothers rush towards the Christmas tree to discover their gifts. On one side lay piles of wonderful toys for one of the boys. The boy does nothing. He just looks at the pile and says, “What’s the point? They’ll all be broken in a day or two.“

The other boy’s gift, on the other side of the tree, is nothing but a pile of manure. The boy quickly starts digging through the manure. He digs and digs and digs, all the while joyfully telling his dour sibling, “There must be a pony in here somewhere!”

Events are events. You don’t get to control them.

Your attitude about those events however, is entirely up to you. You get huge control over that.

So what’s it gonna be?…Will you keep searching for the pony?…Or give up before you even start?…You decide.

P.S. – The eternal optimist and multi-hyphenate artist Mark Duplass tells a version of this story on the always excellent “Back To One” podcast. Give it a listen. Lots of inspiration and gems in there.