Support Crew

Over the Easter long weekend my hubby asked me if I’d be interested in watching Formula 1: Drive To Survive on Netflix. Having no interest whatsoever in car racing but certainly having an interest in showing enthusiasm for things that interest my hubby, I said, “sure”.

The first couple of episodes were fine, I watched them from across the room as I was working on a jigsaw puzzle and I wasn’t a huge fan until all of a sudden…I Was.

Had I been living under a rock?

The personalities!

The drama!

The competitiveness! 

I used to think that the professional dance world was competitive:

So Many Dancers - So Few Jobs, but Holy Moley** to realise that out of all the people who aspire to being an F1 driver there’s only 20 slots available?

Wowsers!

Amazing!

Stressful!

Imagine the pressure? 

**Turns out Holy Moley (or Moly) is a cleaned up version of Holy Moses - the things you learn on the internet.

In one of the last episodes of Drive To Survive, season two, Lewis Hamilton said something along the lines of:

Sure as a winning driver he was the one person called The Champion, but he was actually standing on top of a pyramid with thousands of people underneath him, and this pyramid of support was the only thing that made his victory possible.

This got me thinking about us every day mortals and what our pyramids of thousands might look like…

photo by Michael Dziedzic 

How’s your SUPPORT CREW, aka your PYRAMID??

When I think of a Support Crew I think of all the people that help make one’s life easier and more enjoyable.

Obviously friends and family (biological or chosen) come to mind (dare we call them our pit crew?)

But, what about others, how do they fit into this mash-up of F1 Racing & Pharaohs??

You’d hope that your co-workers were part of your Support Crew but having worked in some quasi-toxic places I know that’s pretty idealistic.

Hmm…

Your circle of acquaintances? Maybe, maybe not. But…

photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya 

Turns out friends of friends of your friends do have an influence on you!

Say what?

You’ve probably heard this quote before:

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” – Jim Rohn

 

Make no mistake, of course it’s super, duper important who we have around us in our immediate vicinity, but it goes wider and deeper than that. (yes, it’s another reference to the shape of a pyramid!)

Turns out those friends of friends of your friends actually matter.

Happiness is contagious!

Check out what researchers found out about the collective phenomenon when we surround ourselves with happy people: https://hms.harvard.edu/news/happiness-collective-not-just-individual-phenomenon

While the analysis did find that the spread of happiness was limited by time and space, don’t you think it’s still cool that happiness spreads like a social contagion? (more so than misery!)

Here are a few people on my Support Crew who might not even realise their place in what I’m going to call

My Pyramid of Happiness

• My clients - They really keep me going with their support, keep me interested in sharing my love of Pilates, and also keep me on my toes!
• My hairdresser - it took me a full year in my new town before I’d had enough bad hair days that it became imperative that I found one - and she’s good!
• My massage therapist - I’ve been so lucky over the years to have had many talented manual therapists on my crew and my latest is fabulous!
• My business accountability POD - These six ladies are supportive, no nonsense, and I always appreciate their different perspectives on whatever it is I’m working on!
• All of the trades people who show up when they say they’re going to and, actually do the work they say they’re going to do! Shout out to Dave, my very entertaining but on the ball electrician!
• My mail lady, Phyllis - she’s always in a good mood! (+ she always drives our wine delivery straight up to the house)
• The checker at the grocery store who you know is going to check you out efficiently and also pack your bags with care (that’s my hubby’s contribution because “retired guy” does the shopping in this household)

I think you get the idea, so all you need to decide is

Who’s on your Support Crew??

photo by david latorre romero 

Or, because I’m flogging these two metaphors,

How well built is your pyramid??

photo by Jeremy Bishop 

That’s all for now because I def think that’s enough…

xBec

Ooh, actually one more thing, let’s not forget what Joseph Pilates said about happiness:

For more on this topic check out my post on Community & Relationships  which links to the same study on happiness but looks at obesity 

The information contained above is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this blog are not intended to amount to advice and Rebecca Forde disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this post

cover and social photo by Mark Stuckey