Wisdom from the Woods – Life Lessons Learned from Being around Unpleasant People.
West Virginians are exceptionally good at some awfully bad things. Criticism has become our creed. If you consider my words wisdumb, I get it! My life of supposed exceptional experiences is utterly unexceptional to me too. Walking the woods of my life, I come across naysayers and saints daily. Folks tend to have a knack for one or the other. If you’re good at something, even if it’s bad, embrace your greatness. If running your mouth is your calling, go into social media. If putting other people down is your life’s work, become an undertaker. If you enjoy destroying beautiful things, go into demolition, deforestation or home wrecking. It’s easy to unearth your hidden talent for exhuming unhappiness. Simply take a backhoe to your own heart. If you dig deep enough, you’ll discover a wellspring of woes within yourself. Whatever you disparage in others is the bedrock of your own heart. Cap it! Stop being an emotional environmental disaster destroying the landscape of this wild and wonderful place. If there’s something you dislike in somebody, recognize it in yourself, first. But if there’s something positive you envy, emulate it. The gears of unhappiness are unceasing mechanisms of meanness that work in unison to propel and perpetuate hurt. Don’t fall into the grind of the gears. Put the brakes on it. Love and appreciate your family, friends and neighbors. It’s the best gift you’ll give yourself, West Virginia, and the world this holiday season. Oh…and if your gift is bringing joy to the world GIVE IT with gleeful abandon!
– Jim Shock, LBSPY #22 (Dec 17-22)
HASHTAGWV ART & ENTERTAINMENT Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, Christina Entenmann-Edwards has been a WV resident since September 2008. She was born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, and is no stranger to hard work and the entrepreneurial spirit. In 2006, she graduated from Quinnipiac University (Hamden, Connecticut), Cum Laude, with a B.A. in History. In 2010, she graduated with an M.B.A. from Liberty University (Lynchburg, Virginia). In February 2012, Christina launched HashtagWV as the area’s first full-color, free arts and entertainment tabloid + online platform. Christina completed the Leadership West Virginia class of 2021, which is an innovative program that grows, engages, and mobilizes leaders to ignite a life passion to move West Virginia forward.