There is Never a Bad Time for Good News

Friday I received some significant bad news. In this middle of it I got a wonderful voice mail from a young woman college student who I have become close to. Lindsey had called to share the great news that she had been selected as one of 50, out of about 475 applicants, to be inducted into an honor society that recognizes both your academics and student leadership. Even though I was going between two phones dealing with doctors, hospitals etc, I was elated.

I spoke to her a little later and by that time she had found out what was happening in my life. I went to ecstatically congratulate her and she immediately apologized for calling me with the good news. I told her there was never a bad time for good news.

I realize people will disagree. What if you are having a bad day/week/year and someone keeps telling you everything that is going right with them? It is kind of like that joke about the proverbial Christmas letters where they tell you how their child made the top sports team, National Honor Society and filed for a patent for a product. In the meantime they have traveled around the world, celebrated 30 years of wedded bliss....you get the picture. There you are reading the letter after getting laid off from your job, wondering how you are going to meet the bills and keep your kids out of jail without tying them to a chair (which would put you in jail!).

But there is a difference in genuinely sharing good news versus delivering it in a pretentious, patronizing, malicious manner. Even for those we love (maybe especially for them) we need to make sure there are no underlying reasons we are doing it. Do we really want them to share in our joy? Or are we trying to make a point?

A couple of years ago I realized that hearing other people’s good news could really get me through some tough times. I had to back burner my business, which was really taking off in a new direction, as I tended to some major family issues. This was tough, but I did what I felt I needed to do. I belong to a Mastermind group made up of 9 women entrepreneurs. At the time my business was sitting on my desk collecting dust, some of their careers began to reach stratospheric heights. One of my darkest weeks I got bombarded by their good news. I remember saying to a few people that if it wasn’t for watching their good fortune I would have nothing to celebrate. Someone asked me if I was jealous…and I realized no. Their success was giving me the hope and reminder that my time would come too.

There is no bad time to share good news, if you do it for the right reasons.