MY One Last Thought - Ido Singer - Episode 31

Hello everyone, and welcome to the One Last Thought Podcast.

It is the beginning of a new year; a new decade, and so I wanted to do something special for the first episode of 2020. Of this new and exciting decade. 

I’m not big on new year’s resolutions or making grand declarations about how I’m going to change drastically for this new year, so I thought instead, I would kick this year off by giving you MY One Last Thought.

I was asked that the other day and to be honest, having to turn the mirror on myself was a great experience. I must have heard over 200 responses to my One Last Thought question, and I’ve learned so much from each one, but never gave this much thought myself, so here goes. This is my One Last Thought.

I want to begin by telling you a story. The story of how I met my wife.

It was a Sunday in May of 2011 and I had to be at work. Back then, and before I coached college basketball, I had to supplement my income with bartending. I was living in New York at the time and worked at a very busy midtown bar.

I was also coaching two teams, a high school, and a middle school, as well as giving private basketball lessons, and clinics whenever and wherever I can do them. I was booked. I was overbooked.

I didn’t feel like going to work that Sunday. I had worked the entire weekend prior, and those 14+ hour shifts were catching up with me. I just didn’t want to go, so I started calling around my coworkers offering up this very lucrative shift to ANYONE that would take it, but I had no luck. 

I had to go. 

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, a young lady had a former coworker turned close friend visiting her from California. Their tradition was, spend the day together, eat some great food, take in the city and maybe grab a few drinks to finish the day.

This young lady just found out that she was chosen to go on an all-expenses-paid trip to Israel that day, and being a nice Jewish girl, she joked with her friend that she will be coming back from that trip with an Israeli husband.

As they got out of the restaurant they were eating at, they spotted this bar at random and decided to go in for a drink or two.

It was my bar.

I was working the back part of the bar, which fills up last, as most of the people enjoyed sitting closer to the big windows overlooking 8^th Ave. I had 2 seats available on my end. All the tables were available as well. 

The young lady and her friend walked in and took the last two available seats. 

I immediately felt something as I approached them to take their drink order. It was powerful. An attraction, yes, but also a connection I can’t quite explain. 

For the rest of my shift, while they were there, I feel that I was ignoring all of my other customers and spending all of my time with her, getting to know her. We made plans to go out the next night.

Six months later we moved in together. A year later we were engaged. She found her Israeli husband after all. She called it.

Life has a way of putting things in front of us.

We may not always see them or even understand that they are happening, but they happen all the time, and only by being open to what the universe has in store for us will we be able to truly be fulfilled and happy.

What if a coworker had agreed to take my shift? What if my wife and her friend had looked to the left, instead of to the right as they were leaving the restaurant? What if there were two available seats in the front of the bar with the other single bartender?

We don’t know what life has in store for us. 

Every decision we make has a ripple effect on our futures, and if we could do a God-like zoom out on our lives and see what would have happened had we chosen the blue pill instead of the red one 

we could possibly learn that we have made some mistakes along the way, but by being open to whatever it is that may come our way

we are inviting endless possibilities.

Be brave enough to allow things to come your way. Accept that some things are just not meant to happen (like me getting out of that shift) and zoom back out to appreciate how all of these seemingly small happenings and non-happenings have a massive effect on our lives.

As you enter this new decade, embrace life as it happens, say ‘YES’ to more things, appreciate the good with the bad and be open to life’s curveballs.

Who knows? Perhaps the best thing that ever happened to you is coming your way from across the street right now…

I want to thank you all for taking the first steps on this journey with me. 2019 has been an amazing year for the One Last Thought Podcast. 

I didn’t know what to expect when I rolled this baby out, but your support, encouragement, and most importantly – listenership has meant everything to me.

Thank you for choosing to spend 10 minutes or less with me every week. 2020 is going to be our best year yet.