Living It Daily

Rusty Norman
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Self-Improvement

Living It Daily is a space for meaningful reflection, honest conversation, and practical insight — real-life, thought-provoking ponderings for the moments that make up an ordinary day. Hosted by Rusty Norman, drawing on decades of faith, family, and life experience, this weekly blogcast is a reminder that life isn’t just about the big moments — it’s how we show up every day.

  1. Sep 8

    There Ain’t Nobody Listening

    From Living It Daily I had a conversation not long ago that’s been sitting with me ever since. I won’t say who it was with, but I offered something I thought was pretty simple wisdom — the kind that comes from having lived a few decades and paid attention along the way. It didn’t land. Not even a little. And it wasn’t the first time. I’ve been chewing on why that keeps happening, and I think I finally landed on it. It’s not that people are foolish. It’s that so many have never been handed the history that would help them see where their “new” idea actually leads — because somebody already tried it, a generation or two ago, and it didn’t end well then either. Every generation is convinced its moment is exempt from the past. History says otherwise. History always says otherwise. That’s the real frustration underneath all of this — not the phones, not the scrolling, though that’s part of it too. It’s watching people build confidence on ideas that have never been tested against anything older than a headline from this morning. You know the picture I’m talking about. Heads down, thumbs moving, tuned into a 24-hour news cycle that doesn’t always tell us what’s really going on — and sometimes seems more interested in convincing us of a narrative than informing us of the truth. And here’s the part that troubles me most: once people are far enough into that cycle, they stop taking in anything that doesn’t already agree with them. They’ve made up their minds. They’ve decided they know enough. They stand on a path you can see the end of — because maybe you’ve walked it, or watched someone else walk it — and when you try to hand them what you’ve learned, they wave it off like it’s outdated. Irrelevant. Something an old mind wouldn’t understand. This is actually what led me to write a song a while back called “There Ain’t Nobody Listening.” I wrote it out of pure frustration, and it’s stuck with me ever since — maybe you’ll hear it someday. That’s a hard thing to sit with. Watching decay get accepted, even celebrated, without anybody stopping to ask why it feels so wrong. Watching truth get outvoted by volume. I won’t pretend that doesn’t wear on me some days. I’m 75 years old. I’ve lived long enough to have earned a little of what the old folks used to call wisdom — the kind that doesn’t come from a book or a headline, but from actually living through the consequences of things, good and bad, and paying attention along the way. There’s an old adage that says wisdom comes with age, and I believe it, because I’ve watched it prove true in my own life more times than I can count. But so much of what my generation was taught — the history, the hard lessons, the common sense that came from living through mistakes and learning from them — simply isn’t being passed on or picked up by the generations coming behind us. And that’s at the heart of my frustration, and I suspect a lot of folks my age, and some even half my age, feel exactly the same way. There’s another old adage that fits right alongside the first one: those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. My generation has been there and done that, more than once, and we don’t want to do it again — not for ourselves, and not for the people coming after us. But it’s a sad and heavy thing to know you’ve already walked a road, to see someone else heading straight for the same drop-off, and to have them wave you off like you don’t know what you’re talking about. So, the question I keep coming back to is this: do you keep speaking the truth from those many years of experience, trying to help others avoid repeating the failures of the past, whether they’re willing to listen or not? Or do you give up, and let them learn the hard way, the same way some of those failures were already learned once before? And underneath that question sits a harder one. Why won’t they listen? Are they really so distracted by their tablets and their cell phones, so steeped in the heavily biased influence of social media, that truth itself no longer carries any weight? If nobody’s listening anyway, will continuing to beat the drum of truth ever break through the deaf blindness of unwillingness? I don’t have a clean answer to that. I wish I did. But here’s where I’ve landed, and it’s the only place I know how to land: we keep speaking the truth anyway. Not because we expect to be heard today. Not because we think this article, or one more conversation, or one more attempt at wisdom is going to turn the tide by itself. We speak it because truth planted doesn’t need an audience to still be true. Seeds can lie dormant a long time — through seasons that look like nothing is growing at all — before they finally take root. And history tells us something else too: the pressure of propaganda always cracks eventually. It always has. When it does, the people still standing on solid ground will be the ones who kept telling the truth the whole time nobody seemed to be listening. So I’ll keep planting. And so should you… Anyway. Hey, this is Russ, and I’m still Living It Daily… See ya next time… All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer © September 08 , 2026 – all rights reserved Rusty Norman, Podcastnorm Dot Com, and LivingItDaily.com All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and Pod Cast Norm Productions All music from TwoBuckThemes from Mike Stewart unless otherwise stated

  2. Aug 23

    The Old Dirt Road

    From Living It Daily We all travel the paths we know best. At least, I know I do. It seems we like to take the same route to places we like to frequent, whether it be our path to visit someone or the way we take to our places of employment. There is likely more than one way to get to those destinations, but we are much more interested in getting there in the shortest amount of time. If we take that path frequently, we eventually lose sight of our surroundings and focus only on the destination. It becomes more like a path we travel with tunnel vision. We hardly pay attention to anything but the road ahead.I’ve often told you that my mind tends to wander off on tangents at times. This was one of those times. I could just as easily include this as another time I was looking out my window like I wrote about several articles ago. I say that because it was exactly what I was doing when what I’m going to talk about took place.Let me paint a word picture of what started my thinking about the “Old Dirt Road” that prompted this.I was looking out my window and thinking about many things. I was considering my plans for the day ahead for both work and some personal situations. I can’t really explain why it caught my attention the way that it did. All I know is that it did.I began thinking about what I was seeing. Outside my window is a tree. Not the one I wrote about before, but a different one. I believe the name of this type of tree is “Carrotwood.” It is an evergreen tree. For those not familiar, it doesn’t lose its leaves and stays green year-round. Sometimes the simplest things can trigger a creative moment. On this particular morning, the sky appeared a deeper color of blue than I often remembered seeing. I think since I do a lot of writing, including poetry and songs, my mind was triggered by what I was seeing. It was also bringing up memories from my past, so I began writing down what would later become one of my songs. Mostly, I just had the first couple of lines, but they were enough to keep me thinking about the moment for an extended period of time. I want to share a little of what I wrote called “The Old Dirt Road”:Blue skies, above evergreen trees.An old dirt road, I don’t know where it leads.I don’t know that I ever traveled this way before,But I know that it leads to more.Immediately, in my mind’s eyes, I was no longer looking out my window, but I was seeing an old dirt road from my past as a kid living in Southern Illinois.It was not unusual for us as a family to go for drives on a Sunday afternoon. All the other days, my mom and dad were busy or working, and my sister and I were likely in school. We had several small parks and large lakes within close driving distance, which left a lot for us to explore on those drives. On this day I’m thinking about, my dad pulled off the main road onto a gravel-covered dirt road. I remember looking at my sister in the back seat beside me, and then we both asked in unison, “Where are we going?” I remember my dad answering, “We’re going to see where this old dirt road leads.”My memory of that day came back to me so vividly as I gazed out my window. I knew we hadn’t ever traveled on that old dirt road before. It was a brand-new experience, at least for my sister and me. We saw things we didn’t know existed. We were both young and could only travel close to our home on our bikes. Those Sunday drives expanded our knowledge of the area where we lived. I remember a few things about that drive, and though we didn’t know it at the time, the road my dad had taken circled around one of the several lakes in our area.One of the first things I remember seeing was the spillway of the dam at one end of the lake. I had never seen anything like it before: the water pouring over that edge, the sound of it, the sheer size of the thing to a kid who’d only ever seen the calm, flat water of the lake itself. I remember just standing there, taking it in, not saying much of anything. To this day, I cannot tell you exactly how we got there; I just know we did, and I know it felt like we’d stumbled onto something the rest of the world didn’t know about.Eventually, the ‘old dirt road’ led us to a place we all had seen before. It was the area at the entrance of the lake where there were boat rentals, a swimming area, as well as the camping area we had camped at before.Had we not taken that ‘Old Dirt Road’ on that day, I would probably have never known there was a vast world around the lake that I had never seen and likely never would have.You see, the reason I likely would have never seen that “world” is that we moved from Southern Illinois to Southwest Florida when I was eleven years old, which was about a year later. I’ve lived here for a long time, married my wife, and raised two daughters, and have five grandchildren. Even with all of that, there are many places I have never been around where I live. Some I have discovered because of where my service business has taken me, but there is so much more to see. And it’s not just the roads I mean. Some of my ‘old dirt roads’ these days aren’t made of gravel at all, they’re the conversations I’ve been putting off, the ideas I keep circling back to but haven’t followed through on, the places in my own heart I haven’t fully explored. Those call to me just as much as any road ever did. That leads me to the next part of the poem/song I’d like to share. It goes like this:So many unknowns that are callin’ to me.Because down that road there’s so much more to see.And perhaps those ole skies won’t always be blueBut the old dirt road is calling me to follow it through.I learned through that experience that following the same route day after day isn’t always the best thing. Fortunately, though I frequent much of my service area often, there is more than one way to get to those locations. Sometimes I take the long route, sometimes the shorter route, but it seems there is quite often something new to see. I don’t always have to get there in the shortest amount of time, although sometimes the shortest route is necessary. In the last thirty-six years of working my service business, there have been a lot of changes. Some of those changes I would have never seen if I had always followed the same route. Sometimes, I have discovered things simply because a service call has taken me down an ‘old dirt road’ I have never traveled before.How about you? Do you always take the same, shortest route to wherever you travel to or want to go, or even have to go? May I make a suggestion? Take the longer route sometime. Take that ‘old dirt road’ you’ve been avoiding but has captured your attention. Maybe it’s a phone call you’ve been putting off. Maybe it’s a memory you haven’t let yourself sit with in a long while. Maybe it’s simply slowing down enough to notice the world outside your own window. See what might be down that other path. You may be surprised at what you discover and what you may have been missing all these years. Can you hear that ‘Old Dirt Road’ calling you to follow it through?Hey, this is Russ, and I’m still Living It Daily… See ya next time…  All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer © August 23, 2026 – all rights reserved Rusty Norman, Podcastnorm Dot Com, and LivingItDaily.com All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and Pod Cast Norm Productions All music from TwoBuckThemes from Mike Stewart unless otherwise stated

  3. Aug 16

    That Nagging Feeling

    From Living It Daily It was a day like any other workday. I was busy working multiple service calls and running just a bit behind schedule. Even at that, I was making good headway, and by the middle to late afternoon, I was beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I remember exactly where and what I was working on, and though it had its own set of challenges, it was going well. I was about halfway done with what I was working on when my cell phone rang. When I am busy – and running a little behind – I usually take a look to see who the caller might be and let it go to voicemail. I can always call back later. To my surprise, the call was from a friend I hadn’t heard from in a while. We both owned our own businesses and had often helped each other out when we needed an extra hand. Because he usually didn’t call for no reason, I answered. Our conversation started with the usual questions of, “How’s business?” and “What are you doing to stay busy?” It was the usual small talk we usually started off with. My friend did have a tendency to talk a lot about many things, especially if he wasn’t busy. I mention that last part because I was busy and was trying to get the job I was working on completed so I could move on to my last service call or two. I admit, I was a little frustrated because I knew he had the tendency to talk for an extended period, and I needed to move on. I was on the verge of telling him I needed to go and that I would call him back later, but I let him keep talking, telling me one of his stories of recent experiences with some of his customers. He did have some very interesting customers, which made the stories all the more worth listening to. As I said, I was looking for a way to nicely interrupt him and maybe give him a call a little while later. After all, I was busily trying to complete what I was working on, was running behind for the day, and needed to move on. Suddenly his voice noticeably changed, and he asked if he had told me he was being treated for prostate cancer. I answered that I didn’t think so. I asked how that was going. He started by telling me the treatment was going well, but since the last treatment, he was struggling. It seemed he was having some adverse reaction to the treatment, and it had really taken the wind out of his sails. Compared to the last three treatments, this one had hit him hard. Needless to say, I was shocked because he had always been a pretty healthy guy and he was only two years older than me. My attention kind of shifted from what I was working on to listening closely to what he was saying. Since he hadn’t told me about the situation at all, I asked him to fill me in again. It turns out he had been through three treatments without complications, but this last one he felt he was really having a bad reaction to; the doctors said it was normal and he would probably be fine in a week or two. Though our conversation lasted another twenty minutes or so, I did ask him to keep me informed, and I would appreciate a call to update me on his situation as he could. That call took place about a year and a half ago. Over the next several months or so, I sent him a few texts asking how he was doing overall, especially since the last report he had given me. He never answered those texts, so I figured he was doing better and that he had turned the corner on his situation. I often got that nagging feeling I should call him up and check on his situation. In the meantime, business had picked up again, and I kind of let things go, not thinking about it much. I still had that nagging feeling of trying to contact him via text or call and see how he was doing. The times I did call or text, he didn’t return either the texts or calls. I didn’t think anything bad was going on; I just figured he was busy like I was. This went on for close to a year. I finally gave in to that nagging feeling and sent him another text asking how he was doing and to give me a call so we could catch up. He finally did answer, but I was not available to take the call, so he left a voicemail. The message went a little like this. “Hey, Russ. It’s me, returning your call or text. Just give me a call when you have a minute. No rush, nothing going on. Just give me a call when you can…” I did call him back within an hour of his call. He didn’t answer, so we were once again playing phone tag, and I left a message. He immediately called back and told me what was going on. Turns out he had developed leukemia and was being treated for that. It had taken them some time to figure out what he had. They put him in a care facility. He was frustrated because they weren’t communicating with him and telling him what was going on. We talked for over an hour, and he said he had a doctor’s appointment the next day and he would let me know how that went. I didn’t hear from him the next day, so I waited a day or two and then texted him on Monday morning. To my surprise, my phone lit up with his name and number answering my text. It wasn’t him; it was his nephew answering me, telling me he had passed away Sunday afternoon. He had taken a turn for the worse on Thursday and never recovered. I was really surprised, and it hit me hard, but I was happy that I had finally given in to that nagging and contacted him. I honestly had no idea he could be on the verge of dying the day we talked. The point of me telling you about this is because we often feel a nagging in us to give someone we know a call or contact them in some way. They may be going through something. It could be either a family matter or maybe even a similar health challenge of some sort. If that nagging feeling comes back often or even feels like something you really need to do, don’t ignore it. It may not be life and death, but they may need to talk to someone, and that someone is you. Make the call, send the text. I don’t think you’ll regret it… Hey, this is Russ, and I’m still Living It Daily… See ya next time… All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer © August 16, 2026 – all rights reserved Rusty Norman, Podcastnorm Dot Com, and LivingItDaily.com All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and Pod Cast Norm Productions All music from TwoBuckThemes from Mike Stewart unless otherwise stated

  4. Aug 10

    Storm Prep

    From Living It Daily This podcast is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify There’s a thing we have in Florida, but it isn’t exclusive to us. That thing is called Hurricane Season. It comes around every year and runs from June 1st through November 30th. It isn’t something we think about every moment of every day in those months, but it does require us to pay attention to what’s going on weather-wise. Last year was an off year for us. As far as hurricanes heading our way and making landfall, it was a relatively calm season — and calm, in this case, was a welcome thing. But calm doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten what came before it. The best way to understand what I mean is to look back at the hurricane seasons of 2022 and 2024. In 2022, we had the worst hurricane I’ve ever experienced in my sixty-four years of living in this part of Florida. Its name was Ian, and it affected far more than just where I live. Two years later, we had two hurricanes hit us within three weeks of each other. They weren’t as severe as Ian, but they still caused real damage and upended people’s lives — and they hit just as folks were finally making good progress recovering from Ian. Now, four years after Ian, people are still repairing and rebuilding what that storm — and those other two — caused. There’s been a lot of positive progress, but there’s still much left to do. You may recognize the names of those other two storms: Helene and Milton. Helene made a close pass to us but devastated western North Carolina. Milton hit about 45 miles north of us. Although we felt the effects of both, what hit us hardest was the flooding caused by storm surge. The most important thing I learned from that experience is what I titled this article: Storm Prep. It affected me enough that I wrote a short book about what I learned from living through three severe hurricanes in two short years, titled Three Hurricanes – Two Years – Lessons Learned From Experiencing Three Severe Hurricanes in Two Short Years. Over the years, I’ve experienced plenty of hurricanes and storms of all kinds in Southwest Florida, some worse than others, but none like the three I’ve already mentioned. Thinking about them as we sit partway into another hurricane season has prompted me to look at Storm Prep a little differently. Every June through November, I know I need to pay closer attention to the weather possibilities that can affect us — sometimes severely. Before Ian, Helene, and Milton, I sort of paid attention to hurricane warnings, but I only took them half seriously. Usually, they weren’t as bad as the weather people said they’d be. That’s changed. As I thought about Storm Prep for this hurricane season, my mind drifted to the other kinds of storms I’ve faced in recent years — ones in my personal life and my business life. I started thinking about how I’d either prepared for them, ignored them, or learned to pay closer attention to the warning signs. For some, I just learned to prepare for the possibilities. One example: over eleven years ago, I probably ignored the warnings, though at the time I didn’t really know what was going on. I just kept going about my days, running my service business, chalking up what I was feeling to getting older. Then one day, almost without warning, I had a heart attack. It meant thirteen days in the hospital and bypass surgery. Everything turned out fine, but it was a storm I hadn’t prepared for. Another storm involved my business and the changes I could see coming but didn’t move fast enough to prepare for. Most of it had to do with how technology was changing and how it would “eventually” affect my business. I figured that was a distant-future problem — I noticed the warnings but only halfway, and told myself I’d deal with it later. Funny how quickly “later” showed up, and how much scrambling it took to catch up. The point is this: we all face storms of different types and severities. Some give us plenty of time to prepare, if we do our Storm Prep like we should. Others show up suddenly, with barely any warning, and we’re left to face them with no time to get ready. When we’ve done our Storm Prep ahead of time, even for the sudden ones, we get to respond instead of react. And experience — plus plain common sense — tells us it’s always better to respond than to react. Responding means we were at least somewhat prepared, because we paid attention to the warnings, however subtle they were. Reacting means scrambling to make quick decisions, and because we missed or ignored the warning signs, we’re more likely to get it wrong — and that can cost us dearly. I won’t say I’ve arrived. But I’m learning to pay closer attention to the warning signs and to be better prepared for the storms that come with regularity into my life. I spend more time now evaluating the possibilities and doing my Storm Prep for whatever storm life may bring — weather-related, physical, or spiritual. Because life brings more than just hurricanes. Storms come suddenly, or with plenty of warning. If we’ve done our Storm Prep, we’ll be ready for whatever comes. Hey, this is Russ, and I’m still Living It Daily… See ya next time… All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer © August 10, 2026 – all rights reserved Rusty Norman, Podcastnorm Dot Com, and LivingItDaily.com All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and Pod Cast Norm Productions All music from TwoBuckThemes from Mike Stewart unless otherwise stated

  5. Jul 25

    Revisiting: Encourage, Motivate, AND Inspire

    From Living It Daily (This is an expanded revisit of a previous article from September 19, 2025.) In a world filled with so much rage, chaos, and uncertainty, it’s sometimes difficult to face the day-to-day situations we encounter on a continuing basis. Fortunately, we don’t have to bow to the pressures of the world around us and join in its chorus of negativity and criticism toward those around us, whether at home or at work. We can do something totally foreign to many and considered “living in a dream world” by others. If we choose to follow a different path, they may even say to us, “You can’t go around denying reality.” I agree with that, but I am not talking about doing that at all. What I am suggesting here is that we do something that will not only make other people have a better day (and quite possibly have a better life) but also help them gain some confidence in themselves and what they do. I have not come up with this suggestion out of the blue. It is something I determined to do a while ago, and the end result has been forging better relationships with those I am around on a constant basis, as well as new acquaintances. You see, the people in our lives matter, have much to offer, and are essential. Sometimes they need to be encouraged, and at other times they need to be admonished. That admonishment should not be harsh, but at times it must be firm. The three words in the title above are words often ignored in the lives we lead these days. More often than not, people are much more likely to be despondent, discouraged, and beaten down by those they associate with, whether from those in leadership positions above them or in their peer groups and acquaintances. But here’s what I’ve come to realize: encourage, motivate, and inspire aren’t three ways of saying the same thing. They’re three different gifts, and most of us are better at giving one than the other two. If we want to really make a difference in someone’s life, we can’t stop at just one. To Encourage I would even go so far as to say we don’t have to go far to see the attitude of many people. It’s obvious as we daily travel the highways and byways on our way to and from the places we have to go or be. Many of us experience “road rage” in one form or another as we drive on our daily journeys. Sometimes we do make mistakes while driving and are exposed to verbal and visual tirades from those we have inadvertently agitated. In fact, we sometimes react the same way ourselves. (Wow, I wish I didn’t need to add that last part, but, honestly, I haven’t yet gained complete control over my reactions to unavoidable circumstances, either. I’m still working on it, though.) Unfortunately, we often don’t know what’s going on in the lives of those who abruptly pull out in front of us or do something else that upsets us. We generally react to how they have upset our own world with little thought about them or what might be going on in theirs. Perhaps they have just received some bad news, lost a loved one, gotten fired from their job, or broken up with their boyfriend or girlfriend. Maybe they just made a mistake, an error in judgment, or their mind wandered for a moment; we just don’t know, do we? That’s what encouragement is. It meets someone right where they are, in the moment, without needing to know the whole story first. It’s the quickest of the three to offer, and often the one people need most, simply because so few are willing to give it. I know this because I’ve been on the receiving end of it. As often happens as we go through living our day-to-day lives, we sometimes get discouraged with where we are and what we have and haven’t accomplished. I was going through one of those days, and I guess the weight of it all was showing on my face or in my attitude. I was taking a break from a frustrating time at work when a friend stopped by the little break room and said hello. He asked how I was doing. I tried to cover my frustrations but obviously wasn’t doing a very good job of it. He started to walk away, hesitated, and then returned, asking what was really the matter. He said I looked like I was carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders. I quickly explained what I was working on wasn’t going well and that I wasn’t even sure why I kept trying. In fact, there were so many things in my life I wanted to get done, and not many of them were getting done either. I admitted I was discouraged and frustrated and had been for a while. He just smiled at me, put his hand on my shoulder, and said, “Look, I know you and what you do and have done. Stop looking at the things you haven’t done and look at the many things you have done. The other things will happen in their time, too.” I was encouraged as he walked away, and wouldn’t you know, that whole day turned around from that point, and I treasured just the little bit of time he took to speak some words of encouragement. And by the way, the job I was working on got completed, also. That’s the thing about encouragement. Sometimes you’re the one giving it, and sometimes you’re the one who needs it most. Both matter. To Motivate Encouragement meets a person where they are. Motivation asks them to move. There’s a difference between telling someone “it’s okay” and telling someone “you can do this.” The first eases a burden. The second puts a challenge in front of them and says, I believe you’re capable of more. Motivation is less comfortable to give and receive because it asks something of the other person. But that’s exactly why it matters. I haven’t always had my own business. I worked in an AMF bowling establishment for fifteen years as head mechanic. Although being a head mechanic had many jobs associated with it, I also had three people working for me, and I delegated certain responsibilities to them as any good boss would do. One of those jobs happened every Wednesday and Saturday night after closing. Because part of lane maintenance required stripping the lanes of the conditioning oil put down on a regular basis, I taught them the way I wanted it done. Honestly, I knew the best way to keep the lanes clean because I had done it myself before they came to work for me. That’s why I say I taught them how to do it. To make a long story short, some complaints had been made that the lanes weren’t as clean as they should be. I knew the process I had developed worked well, so I decided to check in on them one night to see how they were cleaning the lanes. I wanted to know whether there was a problem with the cleaning solution mixture, the cleaning equipment, or something else. Admittedly, they were surprised to see me that night, but I wasn’t expecting what I discovered. Even though the job of cleaning took approximately an hour to finish, I walked in about fifteen minutes into their process, and they were already two-thirds of the way done. I noticed they weren’t using the usual cleaning equipment, and they were using a chemical cleaner not really made for the job. The proper one was water-based and required the right mixture and equipment to do the job correctly. When I asked them why they were doing it the way they were, they answered that their way was faster and they could get the job done more quickly, like in half the time or less. I didn’t get angry. I took the time to explain to them why their way wasn’t working. I had to mention the complaints we were receiving from the customers and showed them the last couple of lanes they had just completed and how there was still oil residue on them. Then we got the right cleaner and the right equipment out, and I cleaned those two previously cleaned lanes and a third uncleaned one, explaining as I did so. They agreed the correct process worked better than theirs. I then told them as kindly as I could that I appreciated their desire to try something new. I also knew they could do better. But it wasn’t how fast the job got done; it was that it was done right. I knew they could do it correctly and maybe even a little more quickly. In the end, the lanes were cleaner, and everyone was happier. That’s motivation in a nutshell. Not anger, not letting it slide, just holding someone to a standard because you believe they’re capable of meeting it. To Inspire If encouragement meets someone in the moment, and motivation pushes them toward the next step, inspiration is different still. It’s not something we can hand someone directly. Inspiration often happens simply in the watching, in paying attention to how the people around us carry what they’ve been given. As I work in my service business, I meet many different people. Some are inspiring and others, well, not so much. I admit, I’m a people watcher. I observe the people I work for and the people I meet or see on a daily basis. I have been in my service business for over thirty-six years, and over that time, I have met people who have inspired me with their stories and the way they’ve handled difficult illnesses or life-changing situations. I have also run across those who have moved me with compassion for the way they dislike their plight in life. They are definitely unhappy people. They seem to be easily defeated. Others can’t be held back, no matter what is thrown at them. They are resilient and full of life. Every day is faced with a determination to see what can be accomplished, whatever comes their way. And then there are those who consider their “light” sufferings to be life-threatening. Every breath is a chore to them while they pine away the days, lamenting about how it could’ve been, “if only” they had gotten a break instead of the hand they were dealt. It is precisely these differences that make one fail while another succeeds, no matter how trying the circumstan

  6. Jul 19

    Recalculating

    From Living It Daily This podcast is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify I was driving to my oldest daughter’s home, about two and a half hours from where I live. I’d been there numerous times, but on this particular trip, I decided to see how my phone’s GPS would guide me when I got out of town. I punched in the address, told it to start from where we were, touched the start button, and we were on our way. Let me clarify a little bit. I knew the way because I had driven there many times, often enough to know the best and fastest way to arrive in the time it would normally take. I only did this because the trip can be somewhat repetitive and maybe just a bit boring. For the most part, it’s pretty straightforward and only changes the road route number twice, though it does depart from that number and then return to it later. As for the directions the GPS gave, they were much as I thought they would be, and it did tell me to turn at the places I would have turned anyway. Well, that is, until I got to a small town about an hour from the final destination. I had been this way before and absolutely knew this small town like the back of my hand, including exactly where to make the two turns to get back to the original route number for the final leg of the journey. Suddenly, I heard the GPS click in, say I had made a wrong turn, and it told me to safely make a U-turn and go back to continue my journey to my destination. Since I knew the way, I just ignored the advice and continued on my chosen route. It is a quiet little town with several traffic lights and a speed limit of 35 mph. As I approached what I knew to be one of the last three traffic signals, the GPS unexpectedly kicked on again, telling me to turn right. Once again, I ignored the advice and proceeded to where I knew to turn. The GPS wouldn’t let me rest after that. At every intersection for every block, it kept telling me to turn right and proceed along its chosen route, which was different from the one I wanted. Okay, I have to be honest here. The GPS was not mistaken; it was just evaluating and giving a different route to the same location. Recalculating, if you will. In both cases, because I knew the route and the reason I chose it, I could ignore the advice of the GPS. In both cases, the routes it showed me would take me to the same location but add time and mileage to the trip. Actually, the GPS routes would have added 30 to 40 minutes to my trip. The route I researched and chose was more direct and much closer overall to my daughter’s home. Here’s what I keep coming back to. I believe we all have something inside us that tries to guide us and keep us on track when we make a wrong turn in our lives. So, what am I saying here? There are times when we travel, and the GPS is very helpful because we have no idea how to get to our desired destination. It’s at those times that we should listen to the GPS directions. I understand that sometimes the GPS may take us a long and indirect route, but the destination will be reached, much like it trying to tell me how to get to my daughter’s home. There are actually three ways of getting there. Two take longer, one is more direct. In our lives, the same can be true. We may think we know the way to where we want to go or are going. At other times, we may not have any idea of how to reach our hope or dream. We start out on our journey, hoping we are doing the right things and making the right decisions, but there is a nagging feeling that seems to haunt us, making us uncomfortable and questioning whether we are headed in the right direction. That nagging feeling could be our personal GPS. Sometimes that nagging is asking, “What if?” “What if” there is another way to the destination you desire? “What if” there is a shorter route, or “what if” you should take a longer route to the same destination? “What if” this is something you shouldn’t pursue? “What if” you have made a wrong turn? Here is the course correction. In closing, I would like to offer something from my first book, Living Life Notes: Insights From Traveling The Highway of Life, in the chapter titled “Fool’s Gold.” It says, “All that glitters isn’t gold… not every idea is worth pursuing, and not every avenue is worth traveling down. There is a loving Heavenly Father who has nuggets of gold He wants to instill in us, and there are riches beyond imagination that are available. The problem is, we often chase after fool’s gold instead of the ‘pure gold’ He has for us.” Skipping to the last paragraph: “In the end, what matters most is knowing that we did everything we could with what He gave us, and that we didn’t waste our allotment of time pursuing riches that could not be found…” Hey, this is Russ and I’m still Living It Daily… See ya next time… All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer © July .19, 2026 – all rights reserved Rusty Norman, LivingItDaily.com All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and Pod Cast Norm Productions All music TwoBuckThemes from Mike Stewart unless otherwise stated

  7. Jul 1

    Running On Empty

    From Living It Daily This podcast is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify It was a typical long day working my service business, and it was also one that was busier than usual. Of course, it was my busy season, so it was to be expected, but there seemed to be more people than usual, too. On top of all that, the traffic was heavier than usual. I was working in my usual service area, Fort Myers Beach, which covered seven miles of condos, hotels, motels, and rental and private homes. To be honest, because I knew my service schedule was full, I had started the day earlier than usual and was running behind. Almost every service call had taken longer than it should, and the heavy traffic didn’t help either. It was late in the day, and I had finally finished a call at mid-island and was headed to my last one of the day. It was after 5 pm, and I was really tired, looking forward to heading home for supper and getting some rest. I remember I was about half a mile from that last call, running along in a line of traffic, but we were traveling at around the 35-mph speed limit. Suddenly, my service van began to sputter and miss, and then it died. I began to look for a place where I could safely pull off the road and eased my way onto the shoulder. Somewhat confused, I began to assess my situation, tried to start my van, and while it was cranking, I looked at the dash and noticed the gas gauge. That’s when my memory kicked in. I was supposed to buy gas on my way to work that morning. I noticed I had just under a quarter of a tank when I got home the evening before, and I had been running on that amount of gas all day. Basically, I had been running on empty. So, I guess you’re probably wondering what this has to do with anything at all other than the frustration of running out of gas late on a workday. Well, I was thinking about that day a couple of mornings ago and considering my personal situation over the last couple of months. With all that is going on in the world around us and in my own life, I have had trouble getting motivated. I have had trouble finding my way on some days, and on others, it seems I am just struggling to survive the problems life throws my way. I tend to blame most of this on a thing I struggle with at times called mild depression. I’ve been told it is common and many people are affected by it in one way or another, especially creative people. Some associate it with melancholy, and it is a mild depression of sorts, at least the way I understand it. You see, sometimes I get overwhelmed with the problems that come my way and the state of the world and where it seems to be headed. I don’t believe I am alone in feeling overwhelmed. In fact, I will go one step further. Some or many of you may be experiencing these very same things. You have your own situations, but the feeling of being overwhelmed is common for many as opposed to the few. Maybe you have had a rough time with work or are struggling financially. Perhaps your life has been turned upside down because of a physical struggle or illness. Maybe you are facing a very difficult and stressful family situation. The emotions are high but the resolutions seem distant. I don’t know what you face daily, just as you don’t know what I face on a daily basis. What I do know is that things happen with regularity, and some are good, while others are difficult. When you feel like you’re running on empty, you probably are. The best thing you can do first is admit you are overwhelmed – running on empty – and take a step back to assess your situation. Here’s the part of that day I haven’t told you about yet — what I actually did about it. I still had that last service call waiting on me, but I couldn’t get to it because I was out of gas and couldn’t go anywhere. As I thought about my options, I knew I didn’t have any roadside service agreement like AAA or others. I considered walking the two miles back to a gas station to borrow a can and grab a gallon of gas. That would have taken a lot of time, but I could have done it as a last resort. I thought about calling a tow truck, but I didn’t want to do that unless I absolutely had to. I had to do something. Fortunately, my story did have a happy ending that day. I remembered a business acquaintance and friend who lived a couple of miles from where I was. If she were home and answered her phone, perhaps she could help me. I called, she answered, and she not only could help, but she also had a gas can, bought a couple of gallons of gas, and brought it to where I was stranded — problem solved. I was able to go to the service call, drive back to the gas station, get gas, and head home with no further problems, all thanks to her helping me out. That’s why I say, if you feel as though you’re running on empty and don’t know what to do, take a step back, take a breath, assess your situation, and maybe there is a trusted friend or acquaintance you can call and maybe just talk. You never know; they may have an answer you haven’t considered, and they can fill your tank… Hey, this is Russ and I’m still Living It Daily… See ya next time… All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer© July 01, 2026 – all rights reservedRusty Norman, LivingItDaily.comAll audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and Pod Cast Norm ProductionsAll music TwoBuckThemes from Mike Stewart unless otherwise stated

  8. Jun 21

    Remembering Fathers

    From Living It Daily Maybe I’m just paying closer attention this year. Maybe I’m just in a reflective mood. Maybe I’m just getting older and contemplating a lot of things from my past that I appreciate or regret. Whatever the case, there just seems to be more being said about fathers this year as we approach the day set aside to recognize and/or celebrate fathers. Honestly, I don’t watch that much TV anymore, but I have seen more commercials in my intermittently short times in front of the TV talking about fathers than I remember seeing in a long time. It has been interesting the way they have presented ways of remembering our fathers, and I have been moved to reflect on those I consider father figures in my own life. Now, read or hear this to know that I understand your experiences may not have been like mine. You may have had a father who was absent from your life or one who didn’t treat you right. You may have even been abused. Believe me when I tell you this: my heart goes out to you. You see, I grew up in Southern Illinois. I left there when my parents moved us to Southwest Florida when I was eleven. Even though that seems like a very short time in someone’s life, I have a lot of memories from that time, and most of them are very fond memories. I was blessed to be in a family where most of us lived within twenty miles of each other. We often spent time together. My grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins  often had family gatherings at the parks or lakes near us for picnics or weekend camping trips and the like. Many a Sunday was spent with us all gathered for Sunday dinner at my grandparents and all of us had great times together. We all got together for the holidays like Easter, the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. Those were filled with some of my fondest memories of my childhood. But they weren’t the only memories I have of those days. There were many times my grandpa, my uncle, and I went fishing and did other things together. There was also baseball in the summer, snow in the winter, and springtime with all the leaves coming back on the trees, the flowers blooming, and just the general sights and fragrances of them all. I remember all of these things with fondness, and they often bring a smile to my face. So you see, what I remember most about growing up in those first eleven years of my life is that all the men in my family were fathers, and they kind of showed me at an early age what good fathers did and were to their families. All of us were raised as parts of their families, too. My dad’s dad worked with heavy equipment in highway construction. My mom’s dad was an accountant. One of my uncles worked in the coal mines, and the other worked for the telephone company, and my dad worked on cars and later in electronics repair. They all worked hard, handled different hardships and still took the time to be present in their individual families. I had good examples of what fathers were and could be. As I grew older and entered the workforce myself, I was thankful for the example the fathers in my family set for me. I grew up with a strong work ethic and was confident that I could do whatever the jobs required in the different areas where I was employed. I learned much of that from my earthly father and the other fathers closely associated with our family. I was also blessed to have other men in my life whom I considered father figures, and I learned a lot from them. One of them I worked with for fifteen years, and he taught me a lot about life and the job I was working at the time, which was head mechanic in a bowling alley. Other than my own dad, he probably taught me the most about many things I would face as I became a father myself. Of course, one of the most important influences was my Pastor, Dan Betzer. I sat under his leadership and teaching for over thirty years, and I am still learning from his influence in my life as a man and a father. Today, I have two daughters and five grandchildren. Although I know I wasn’t the perfect father, I did try very hard to be the best father I could be, even though I was learning to be a father and parent on the fly. I’m reminded of a statement I heard long ago. Since I became a father over forty years ago, it has stuck with me, and I have never forgotten it. It goes something like this: “I don’t know why, but God chose to give the job of parenting to rank amateurs. But that’s exactly what He did.” Of course, I can’t leave this without noting that even those without the examples I had growing up can still become great fathers — sometimes that means finding your own mentors along the way, the way I found mine. The job of being a father is not easy. I understand that more now than I ever did, but I am very thankful for the fathers who influenced me and, little by little, showed me how to be a father, and that’s the best gift anyone can receive. Hey, this is Russ and I’m still Living It Daily… See ya next time… All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer © June 21, 2026 – all rights reserved Rusty Norman, LivingItDaily.com All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and Pod Cast Norm Productions All music TwoBuckThemes from Mike Stewart unless otherwise stated

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About

Living It Daily is a space for meaningful reflection, honest conversation, and practical insight — real-life, thought-provoking ponderings for the moments that make up an ordinary day. Hosted by Rusty Norman, drawing on decades of faith, family, and life experience, this weekly blogcast is a reminder that life isn’t just about the big moments — it’s how we show up every day.

Information

  • Creator
    Rusty Norman
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    20
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Rusty Norman, LivingItDaily.com
  • Show Website
    Living It Daily