One person is listening. Perhaps more, but at least one. I’m so pleased.
I was asked by many people on Monday morning about the AFC championship game that I attended on Sunday night. One of the most frequently asked questions was:
“What time did you get home?”
I arrived home on Sunday night around 1:00 AM, but I explained that it was fairly early given the fact that I often arrive home from night games well after 3:00 AM.
Most people have a hard time understanding how I manage this. They also question my sanity when they learn that I will drive to a Moth StorySLAM in Brooklyn, downtown Manhattan, or Boston on a weeknight to maybe tell a five minute story and arrive back home after 1:00 AM.
I know that this advice is good. I know it would make people considerably happier if they followed it. I know that I’m right.
So often, I wonder if anyone is ever listening.
A couple years ago I met a teacher while speaking at her school. Over the past year, she’s begun to listen to my advice and take it to heart.
She began by saying yes to taking the stage and telling of a story for Speak Up. This was not an easy thing for her to do, but since then, she’s become a Speak Up regular and fan favorite.
Shortly thereafter, she went to New York and told her first story in a Moth StorySLAM. The next day, she wrote to me about my philosophy of saying yes regardless of the sacrifices required:
“It’s the greatest lesson you ever taught me. I’m trying so hard to fight my natural instincts to say no and just say yes. It’s annoying how right you always are.”
Needless to say I enjoyed that email a lot.
Last weekend she traveled to Washington, DC to participate in the Woman’s March.
On her way home, she wrote:
“Learning to live life the Matthew Dicks way. Man, your way is exhausting.”
It’s true. It can be exhausting. It’s not always easy. And it doesn’t always work out. Sometimes I drive to Brooklyn for a Moth StorySLAM and never take the stage. Sometimes the Patriots lose a big game, and the long, late night drives home become much more difficult. Sometimes I say yes to something that I must later change to a no when I realize how much I hate it.
But the willingness to take risks, step outside your comfort zone, brave the elements, forgo sleep, face uncertainty, and suffer possible failure are all superior to a lifetime of regret.
One of the most common regrets expressed by people at the end of their lives, recorded by hospice workers, is this:
I wish that I had let myself be happier.
“This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realize until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called ‘comfort’ of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content, when deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.”
The question people didn’t ask me about the AFC championship game (but should’ve asked me) was this:
What will you remember most about the game?
The list is long. Tom Brady’s flea flicker, the way Legarrette Blount carried half of the Steelers team to the goal line, and the huge goal line stand by the Patriots defense will always remain in my mind.
But my favorite part?
Midway through the third period, with the Patriots in the lead, Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer” began booming through the stadium during a timeout. The entire stadium became to sing. A second later, the big screens showed Jon Bon Jovi in one of Gillette Stadium’s luxury suites, singing along with us. The crowd roared. Bon Jovi raised his hands and began conducting the crowd as if we were his orchestra. When the music stopped as the Steelers broke the huddle, 60,000 people continued to sing a cappella, finishing the song as Pittsburgh ran a play.
It was a joyous moment. One of the happiest moments I’ve experienced in a stadium where I have watched games for more than a decade.
Had I been sitting on my couch at home, warm and dry instead of wet and cold, I would’ve missed that moment, and what a tragedy that would have been.
Perhaps others have tried to adopt the “Matthew Dicks way” over the years. Maybe they’ve listened to me speak or watched my TED Talks and changed the way they approach life.
At least one person has, and for today at least, that is enough for me.