Choosing Optimism in an RV Bathroom: A Founder's Morning Reflection

The Morning Reality Check

As I stood shivering this morning in my phone-booth-sized RV bathroom, shaving my age-spotted face with budding jowls over a cereal-bowl-sized sink, shaking away the cobwebs and prepping myself for the 40-minute commute with raging city drivers in East Pennsylvania, I contemplated the finer points of pessimism.

But then I remembered the mantra I used ad nauseum on my three children—especially after they hit their teen years: your attitude is one of the few things you have complete control over.

I remembered the eye rolls, and the excuses, and the thrown objects in some cases. I remembered not always feeling so chipper, even as I demanded them to act that way. I even remembered, believe it or not, my own teenage years, when at times I wanted nothing more of the world than for it to leave me alone so I can hit snooze 10 more times.

Lessons from Basic Training

But fast forward to my own adventure in the US Air Force Basic Training, where failure was not an option. Where the humiliation of going home with my tail between my legs would ensure the total derailing of all my plans. Where back in the Ozarks my new bride was living with my Father until she could join me after graduation. I had no choice but to succeed, but there I was, facing the decision about my attitude. Most people around me were grumpy, if not downright hostile. But I was non-typical, already becoming known as (often delusionally) optimistic.

That would become the pattern for my life, to the chagrin of my teenage kids, and to a plethora of colleagues throughout the years who would eventually set boundaries for any pre-coffee conversations.

What We Actually Control

So this morning I wrestled with pessimism. Sure my age spots are new every morning, but so are God's mercies. I'm granted another day this side of the daisies, and that's not nothing. Sure, I have budding jowls, but they're actually a testimony to my happiness—since they disappear in proportion to my smile. Yeah, the bathroom is tiny, but I'm in the dry (besides the shaving water that misses the mark). These city drivers don't rage too much as long as I keep with the flow, and the flow is really fast, to my delight.

I don't control too much in this world, but I will not lose perspective. I am an adopted child of the very God of the universe. If God loves me, what can get me down? Paul said it best: "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rules, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Steve Applegate, Founder - Gentry Spirits