Greg - Which Glasses Are You Wearing? Choosing Light When It Would Be Easier to Complain

In this Friday follow-up to Carrie’s powerful story about her Grandma Charlotte and her rose-colored glasses, Greg explores how perspective shapes leadership, relationships, and resilience. From a tense board meeting filled with anger and oversimplification to a deeply personal story of his father’s battle with Parkinson’s, this episode shows how mindset is not about ignoring reality — it’s about choosing how to face it. Blending neuroscience, psychology, and real-life endurance, this conversation challenges listeners to notice the lenses they’re wearing and intentionally choose light, discipline, and perspective when life gets hard.

Transcript

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Welcome to Project U Two Po, the podcast where life and leadership meet endurance. I'm Greg Helmer, joined by my wife and partner in life and work, Carrie. Each week, we dive deep into the mindset, the neuroscience, and the real grit it takes to stop drifting and start living with the clarity, confidence, and endurance. This is about real life, real struggles, and real growth. So lace up, it's time to live with endurance. This week, Carrie shared one of the most meaningful stories she's ever told. The story of her grandma Charlotte and those rose-colored glasses. And Carrie, you captured something so important. Not naive optimism, not pretending that life is easy, but choosing how to see the world even when it would be easier to complain, criticize, or become hardened. That story stuck with me because it reminded me of something I've seen over and over again in leadership, in families, and in life. The glasses we wear don't just change how we see the world. They actually change how the world responds to us. A few years ago, during a particularly intense season of collective bargaining, we had a community member speak during public comment at a board meeting. Ironically, this person was a former board member. They stood up, pointing their finger, angry, yelling, and essentially demanding that we give the teachers whatever they want. Now let me be clear. We have incredible teachers. We still do. We value them deeply. That was never the issue. Outside the building that night, there were picketers, solidarity shirts, flags, posters, emotions were running high. Yet this individual was posturing, trying to demonstrate support, but the tone, it was aggressive, dismissive, and frankly, disconnected from reality. What they didn't understand or didn't want to understand was that collective bargaining isn't a moral slogan. It's a complex process. State aid, budget projections, revenue analysis, market competitive compensation, enrollment trends, geographic demographics, long-term sustainability. You don't just give whatever someone wants and call it leadership. But here's the thing: this person wasn't wearing rose-colored glasses, they were wearing dark ones. Everything was filtered through anger, accusation, and oversimplification. And I remember standing there thinking, this isn't about solutions, this is about emotion without understanding. And from a neuroscience standpoint, this is important. When emotions spike the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for logic, reasoning, and perspective, it goes offline. Whatever takes over is a limbic system. Fight, flight, emotion, reactivity. Dark glasses don't just distort reality, they shut down productive conversation. And leadership requires the discipline to not put those glasses on in return. Because here's what I've learned negativity is contagious, but so is calm. So is perspective. So is light. Which brings me to a very different story, and one that makes me incredibly proud. My dad is battling Parkinson's disease. He's a Vietnam veteran, a warrior in every sense of the word, a bit of a firecracker at times. He could choose self-pity with all of the tremors. He could dwell on those tremors, the muscle atrophy, the frustration of not being able to do everything he once could. And some days, I'm sure that temptation is there. But that's not how my dad is living. You see, instead, my dad, he's fighting, not angrily, not bitterly, but with endurance and intention. He does aqua exercise. He walks just about every day. And when the bet the weather's bad, he walks laps inside a local mall. He does massage therapy. He actually does chair exercises that he finds on YouTube. And sometimes my mom joins him. He keeps moving, he keeps showing up. He's facing a brutally hard reality and choosing a different mindset. That's not denial. You see, that's my dad practicing discipline. From a psychological standpoint, what my dad is doing is called cognitive reframing. He's not ignoring the challenge. He's refusing to let it define his identity. And from an endurance standpoint, that is everything. Endurance isn't about pretending the race isn't hard, and that race can be anything in life, right? It's about choosing how you respond when it is. That's what Grandma Charlotte did when one light bulb and a pack of saltines. That's what my dad is doing with Parkinson's. That's what leadership asks of us when emotions are high and reality is complicated. The brain has a natural negativity bias and scans for threats, problems, and what's missing. Left unchecked, it trains us to complain faster than we solve, to criticize faster than we understand. But the brain is also plastic. It can be trained. Every time you choose gratitude instead of grievance, perspective instead of outrage, discipline instead of impulse, you are literally rewiring your neural pathways. You are choosing which glasses to wear. And make no mistake, this is a choice, not a personality trait, not something that you are born with. It is a daily decision. So before we close, here's your challenge for the week. When something frustrates you, a conversation, a news story, a family moment, maybe a work issue, pause and ask yourself one simple question. What color glasses am I wearing right now? If they are dark, don't judge yourself. Just notice, then ask, what would it look like to switch them? Not to ignore the problem, not to pretend it doesn't matter, but to look for the light, the lesson or the next right step. And once this week, I want you to be intentional. Choose rose colored glasses, not because life is easy, but because you refuse to let bitterness become your identity. I promise you, I promise you that choice, it will change your energy, your relationships, your leadership, your endurance. This has been Project U 2.2, where we don't quit, we don't coast, and we don't surrender. If today's episode resonated with you, share it with someone who could use a reminder that perspective is power. And every Wednesday at 622 AM, Carrie brings the heart of this work connection, compassion, and courage. Until next time, stay strong, stay real, and keep living with endurance. See you at six twenty-two.