The Trifecta Story

Before you go to bed tonight, do The Trifecta for yourself. (unless you hate being happy)

Here's the story...

In our household of golf pros and weirdos, we're a little different.

Especially at story time.

When my kids go to bed, sometimes we read a book. Sometimes I make up a story. (My favorite is Kermit the Hermit and his magical bus... yeah it's trippy).

And sometimes it's "Dad, can you tell me a story when you were little?"

Or... "a story when you were little and at school."

Or... "a story when you were little and at school and that's scary."

And even, "a story when you were little and at school and that's scary...and has an owl."

I don't know any stories with owls.

But it gave me an idea. So we switched up story time.

Now, whenever the kids want a story "when I was little", they have to choose The Trifecta. 3 words or phrases. Basically an outline of a story.

From those 3 things, I have to remember something that happened when I was younger and tell the story of that event.

It's good practice for me remembering stuff that happened, plus my kids get to hear a different story every night.

And on one particular night, my kids helped me find a giant secret to happiness.

We were in my son's room and ready for a story.

He quickly got under his covers and said, "Dad, let's play The Trifecta."

Okay, hit me.

"When you were little" (this was almost always a given)
"Basketball"
"Mean to you"

Usually when he'd give me The Trifecta, I'd have a story in about 10 seconds.

But I thought and thought and thought, and couldn't connect those 3 things.

There was just nothing there.

So, I asked him to try again.

This time...
"Eating food"
"Outside"
"Mean to you"

30 seconds, 45 seconds, a minute. I still had nothing.

But then, I figured out why I was getting stumped.

It wasn't the 8th grade basketball concussion. It wasn't my six degrees of separation superpower fading away. It wasn't even my mind wandering to Wild Wings and gummy bears.

It was this.

I could not think of a single time when someone was mean to me.

I just couldn't do it.

Have people been mean to me in the past? Of course. I'm sure it's happened a lot.

But I couldn't recall a time.

And right there sitting on Ethan's bed, I had the revelation.

There's one huge reason that I'm consistently happy.

I choose not to remember people that have been mean to me.

Yes, I choose.

I'm happy because I focus on the people in my life that matter. The people that have my back. The people I care about.

I don't concern myself with people that don't like me, don't like what I do, don't care about me. Those people and those times, they clear out of my head quickly.

Remember this:

Not everyone will like you. Not everyone will care about you. Not everyone will be nice to you.

And it's okay.

Make your choice.

Stay away from the people that are mean to you. And forget the times they are.

Be happy with the people that matter.

"When you were little"
"Laughing"
"Friends"

Go.

Talk soon,
Bryan