Showing Up Shows the World What is Important to You

You just have to love a good, deep conversation on a Thursday afternoon like the one I had today. Today we talked about the importance of showing up. When is the last time you showed up for someone that is important to you?

There are plenty of ways people can show up for us. They can be physically present at special events or times of great distress. They can be emotionally available when we need a shoulder to cry on or an ear to vent to. Or it could just be a stranger that helps us change a tire or chases us down after we leave our phone in some random location. 

Showing up isn't something easy to define, but in a lot of ways, we all understand what the term means. It means you are on board. When you are a part of someone else's journey, you show up for them. When you are in charge of your own journey, you show up for yourself. Both are positive attributes as it shows the world you are someone to be counted.

Throughout your life, there have been events that were important to you. Whether those events were T-Ball or football games, a school play, graduation, a wedding, a birth, a promotion, you looked to the stands to see who showed up. 

As a kid, you wanted your parents or grand parents to show up. It was important to you; so important, you can remember, years later, the list of those that did or didn't show. As an adult, who you look for changes. You look for a spouse or significant other and your best friend. If it's important to you, you invited very specific people and they are the ones you wanted to be there. They are the only ones that mattered. And you took a mental and emotional note every time.

If someone is important to you, you need to be there at those events. You need to show up. If you don't, If you can't be there at the truly important moments, it won't matter how much you care, you run the risk of it not being enough. People are social. Your kids are looking in the stands at every game. Your spouse wants you there even if they tell you it isn't a big deal. They may not even think it is a big deal at the moment, but years later, they will look back and know if you showed up more or less. They'll know if you showed up more or less than someone else.

Showing up isn't even about the event itself. It's about supporting someone else in their accomplishments and their endeavors. You don't have to like football to show up. You don't need to have graduated and you certainly don't need to agree with the path of study they chose to show up. You don't need to know how to help someone in distress to show up for them. The circumstances pale in comparison of importance to being physically present.

There will be times when you can't be there. There will times when distance or events are obstacles that can't be overcome. But the big events have to take priority over much of anything else. You don't need to prioritize the event, it's irrelevant, you should however, prioritize the person at the event. 

Take the time to show up for the people that matter to you. Show them they are important and that they matter.