Life According To Charlie Brown

Life is only as serious or as humorous as YOU make it. Lighten up. Go play softball. Fly a kite. Dance with your dog. Smile… it makes people wonder what you’re up to.” ~ Charlie Brown 

I don’t want to draw too fine a point on this admission, but I learned a whole lot from reading the Peanuts comic strip growing up.

I discovered early I had the soul of Charlie Brown. For me, there wasn’t a more reliable self-help counselor in my early life than Charlie Brown and his friends.

Life was just as baffling to me as it was for Charlie.

How often I found myself the lone ranger because I hadn’t learned to be a reliable teammate.

I made the same mistakes over and over again, all because I refused to take the advice of others…



…only to discover later, when I was flat on my back, the lesson that as long as I repeated the same mistake I’d keep getting the same result.

One day, I found a group of people who, too, were tired of ending up on their backsides for repeating the same mistake over and over again.

 


After I said, “Enough is enough,” I found a little help for my problems and began to learn ways to do life differently.


Then one day, by some miracle, I stopped repeating the same mistakes.

And when I did think about returning to my old ways, I’d first check in with my friends, who I knew would stand with me, come rain or shine.

Even when I thought I had nothing to offer, or even a life worth living…

…if I bothered to reach out I always found at least one friend to stand with me.



And if I bothered to be there for others, I could always find myself surrounded by lots of friends.

 

So now, as an older man, I look back on the lessons I learned from Charlie Brown and his friends. I can think of at least 10:

  • It’s okay to be afraid — just don’t let your fears control you.
  • Persistence wins out. Never give up. 
  • It’s what you think of yourself that counts.
  • Sometimes you need to talk.
  • Sometimes you need to listen.
  • Do what you love to do.
  • It’s important to have friends who care.
  • Big dreams lead to big things.
  • Action creates reality.
  • Laugh every day!

Just a thought…

Pat

Copyright © 2020 Patrick J. Moriarty. All Rights Reserved.

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