So I had to establish an online account today for my business and found myself in the familiar spot of filling out username, password, and setting up a few security questions with answers in the event that I forget my username and password. It took me quite some time to figure out my security questions, as I didn’t really like my options:
Who is your LEAST FAVORITE family members?
Who was your LEAST FAVORITE guest at your wedding?
Which food do you like the least?
What is you LEAST FAVORITE color?
It was odd. So many of the questions were framed negatively, and while it might help from a security standpoint (as I definitely had never seen most of these options on another site), it really made me a bit upset. Even though I didn’t select any of the questions, just by reading them I started focusing on things I don’t like in the world.
I love my family and I’m looking forward to loving every guest that celebrates my wedding day alongside me and my bride, and yet for the briefest of moments, my mind went negative. Instead of looking at each gift my family and friends provide in my life, it started to rifle through and think about if I could find a flaw.
And I didn’t like that.
So I searched and found a security question I could at least handle (although I don’t know if I’ll be able to remember the answer), but even now–hours later–I’m still thinking about that negative focus.
And I wonder if we get stuck in that too often.
It’s easy to rant on facebook and twitter.
It’s easy to complain.
It’s east to fall into a cycle of negativity, where we look for flaws and blemishes rather than gifts and beauty.
I told some friends about these questions and a friend rightfully joked that if the answers were me, then the questions would be “insecurity questions.”
Yes, I’m an advocate for finding problems and fixing them, but if we’re always only looking for bad, we’re missing the good.
So today, I’m ending this blog with a simple question that I’ll hope you’ll answer in the comments here or on my facebook page or on twitter:
“What has been your FAVORITE thing about today?”