I was having a hard time coming up with a topic for this blog this week. Then, after a very, bad, awful week, I climbed up out of it and got back to being awake.

I was preparing to go out for a morning walk when I was hit up by a client who didn’t receive the content they should have. I immediately sat down with my laptop called my team, emailed the client, solved the thing, and took some breaths. 

I have sometimes been caught so off-guard by other humans that I forget there is good. My mother used to say, “water seeks its own level”, meaning you bring to you, what you put out. This morning was something else. Someone who works for me part-time was overwhelmed. The Lesley that started this company over 19 years ago would have joined the overwhelm and would have also been pissed off. Really pissed. I would have been pissed at the client, I would have been pissed at my team, and I would not have looked inside myself. I would have blamed.

After I solved the thing with all involved, the anchor who works for me said, “love you”. Here’s the thing, I too, say this quite often. I say it to my dear friends, I say it to my family, I say it to a few people who work for me, and I’ve said it to co-workers in the past. But, I am pretty sure I have never been told, as a boss, “love you”. I have never been told by a co-worker, “love you”, I have never been told by a boss, “love you”. And isn’t that just so sad?

“Love you” does not need to be a romantic love, it’s an appreciative term, like – I see you, I am here with you, I hear you and I value you. How many times do you feel valued in a day? 

I remember saying “love you” to a co-worker once and he was mortified. I said, “dude, I say it to everyone”. He thought I was in love with him. Please. Not to minimize the deepness of the word love, but I do love a lot of people. And I mean it. 

I say I love you to a lot of my yoga friends. I say I love you (as easily as I drink water) to my children. I say I love you to my girlfriends (not enough, quite frankly), and I said I love you 100 times a day to the soul dog I just lost 💔. 

So, what is the value of the word ‘love’? Should we throw it around willy, nilly, or save it for a chosen few?

I say toss it around like dressing. Like whimsy, joy, and sweet delight. Why do we hold back? 💗