I’m having a great day. I had a meeting this morning that was supposed to be an hour, and it ran over by 40 minutes.

Hands up: Who read that and just assumed that I am being sarcastic? Everyone who works is jaded and snarky, especially where meetings that overrun are concerned, right? I mean, I have achieved my black-belt in Snark-fu and those muscles aren’t just going to atrophy on my watch. But really, would you just automatically expect that was sarcasm? Likely you would. At least, I usually would.

But I *am* having a pretty great day. And that meeting helped my team to unravel a skein of string that will help us determine the direction of a bunch of things for the next year or so. And those things are kind of intimidating for the level of effort, but super exciting for the opportunities they present. We figured out some benefits we can talk about when we announce the changes. We identified some gotchas that might be waiting for us (because Thar Always Be Dragons!) so that the next time I write about my great day, it won’t be chock full of grade-A, high-octane sarcasm. We did some risk assessment, we did some planning, we identified some low hanging fruit so we can over-deliver in the short term (so that if the bigger rocks take longer than we thought, we’ve got some credit in the bank). So yes, a very solid day.

Of course, there are still 2 and a half hours left to get t-boned, for the other shoe to drop, and for things to skid sideways. Because while I’m having a good day, old habits die hard. And sometimes that means that your default mode of travel is to just be snarky or sarcastic. Then that becomes the default antenna with which your brain receives language. That doesn’t seem like a good way forward at all. And I’m the worst for it. I need to dial into a different default.

This Lent, may I not assume the worst possible interpretation. This Lent, may I live my life in a way where people won’t automatically think that good days are sarcastic colour commentary. During Lent, may I choose to see good things more often and may my inclination always be toward belief.