40 Years, Countless Small Moments

How tiny deposits create unbreakable bonds and transform your life

I recently stood at my friend Chad's engagement party, reminiscing about our friendship that started 40 years ago. There we were at 18—wild, reckless, using fake IDs to get into clubs. Here we are at 57, celebrating his engagement to Dan.

Chad jokingly told me at 18 that I was "the girl who was going to turn him straight." That lasted three weeks! But almost four decades later, we're still here—proof that the strongest bonds aren't built through grand gestures, but through tiny, consistent deposits.

The Magic of Small Investments

We maintained this friendship through small deposits: the check-in text when life got hard, remembering what mattered to each other, showing up when inconvenient, choosing love over being right.

This is the compound interest of caring—and it doesn't just work for friendships.

Beyond Relationships

Personal Growth: What if you invested 10 minutes daily in something that feeds your soul?

Attention Management: When tragedy struck close to home recently, I found myself spiraling through social media feeds. I had to practice "taming the power of the small"—eliminating information that felt urgent but wasn't actually useful.

Emotional Regulation: I learned in a college class about discussing hot topics calmly that our emotional state determines decision quality. Now I wait for my emotional wave to subside before making big choices.

Small Steps, Big Shifts

You don't have to transform everything at once. Start with one small deposit today:

• Send someone a genuine "thinking of you" message
• Choose one source of information overwhelm to limit
• Practice one pause before reacting
• Invest 10 minutes in something that truly matters to you

The most beautiful transformations aren't built in moments—they're built through decades of small, loving choices.

What small deposit will you make today?

Chad and I in 1986