Today I attended an 11-hour team building event for work. Typically, when I think of team building, visions of trust walks and relay races come to mind. Generally things I hate. Fortunately, today was more focused on strategic planning and new insights for our team.

The event was specifically for the Marketing department which is so large that many of us don’t have opportunities to work together very often. We engaged in various activities designed to help us reconnect and re-energize.

The first exercise was an ice breaker where we had to share our basic information and then describe what we’d do if we won the lottery. We also had to add our motto or personal battle cry.

When it was my turn I didn’t hesitate to reveal my motto: “it’s all relative.”

This is a statement we must’ve heard at least once a week throughout our teenage years. My Dad prided himself on ensuring Dan and I developed and maintained an authentic perspective. In essence, any time we got a bad grade, or in a fight with our friends, or felt we’d been served an injustice of any sort, Dad was there to remind us that our problems were small potatoes. No matter what we were dealing with, we lived in pretty ideal situations with privileged lives.

This is a mantra I’ve worked to remember my entire life. I’ve gone through what I consider to be challenging periods every so often, but it’s critical to remind myself that in the grand scheme of things, I’ll be just fine.

Happy birthday Dad, and thanks for such an important lesson.