The Letter From My Great Grandmother
Who decides to attend college in their fifties, during one of the most tumultuous decades in U.S. history, the 1960s? My great-grandmother, who we called Nanie, that's who. She was kind of a badass.
Nanie loved geology, history, and storytelling. Her stories unfolded in a very deliberate, measured way—and always included an actionable reminder. Here’s one of my favorite examples: Nanie took a college exam where she missed a single question, and therefore the highest possible grade. Unable to locate the answer in the course text, she protested the result to her professor, asking him where the answer was located. His response: it was in a caption of a photo. He deliberately created a question to test whether students paid attention to all of the material.
To this day I almost always read photo captions first before looking at the image!
Nanie also loved to share stories and poems. She once sent me a copy of Rudyard Kipling’s famous poem If with instructions to read it “carefully and alone in your room.” I don't remember if I actually did that then, but recently I revisited Kipling's poem. Eighteen-year-old Ben probably wasn’t drawn to this part of the poem, but today’s Ben fully appreciates the meaning behind this line:
“If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run—
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it…”
How did Nanie make the most of “unforgiving minutes?” By writing letters—lots and lots of letters, including one that I’ve kept close for 35 years. The letter was a reply to the invitation to attend my high school graduation. Nanie wrote to apologize that she would not be able to attend, adding “We wish we were not so old and could be there. But, in spirit, we are holding your hand.”
The other thing she included in her letter was a series of reminders—six of them, to be exact. Long before I created my Six Essentials to GSD, Nanie created six of her own:
Use your talents.
Rid yourself of non-productive surroundings.
Cherish your health.
Don’t regret the past.
Keep your faith in God.
Take time to be alone to intensify your awareness and recharge your batteries.
Nanie was the first to model the importance of STFD (Slowing The F* Down) for me. I can still picture her sitting in the sun room of her home, reading, studying, and writing surrounded by rocks and other historical artifacts—each one containing a story that intensified her awareness and, in part, mine.
Nanie's letter continues to inspire me to recharge my batteries. And now, I hope it does for you, too.