I’m Not Grateful
A couple weeks ago I had dinner with my friend Jack. I am currently helping on a congressional race for a rather new friend of mine, a genuinely good guy whom I believe in and Jack made a donation to his campaign. I told Jack, “I appreciate it.” Jack told me I say that a lot. I have noticed when I say it, it comes out robotic at times.
I am a follower of Gary Vaynerchuk’s ideology for the most part and one of the things he talks about is being grateful. It seems to be an underlying concept he talks about. I took some stock in it and I hear all these influencers talking about being grateful and how important it is. I used the hashtag “grateful” a few times and it felt inauthentic for some reason. Gary Vee talks a lot about the idea of authenticity. Why do I feel I am fake if I talk about gratitude?
Grateful - feeling or showing an appreciation of kindness; thankful.
Appreciative - feeling or showing gratitude or pleasure.
In the end, I think I just don’t like the word. I am appreciative, but they mean the same damn thing. The word “grateful” just doesn’t resonate with me as well as “appreciative” does.
So why do I sound robotic when I say it? Well first of all, outwardly, I show a lack of emotional range. If I say something genuine, I have to fake sounding genuine sometimes just so people think I am being genuine when I am, in fact, being genuine. That’s just me. I was once told, “Beebe, I can’t tell if you are having the best orgasm of your life or in excruciating pain. In the time I have known you, all I have really learned is that I never wanna play poker against you.” This has been a strange plague throughout my life. I have been offered jobs and the interviewer felt I didn’t show the proper amount of enthusiasm towards it. Ex’s will say the same thing. I just stoic and it has actually helped me find interest in stoicism itself. So now I’m a stoic, not an asshole.
Secondly, people need to hear that I am appreciative. In a way, I created a personal trigger to say “I appreciate it” when I have a feeling of appreciation, even when it doesn’t sound like it. I truly and genuinely appreciate things regardless of size or value. I believe in the thought counting. Thoughtless gifts are appreciated less than thoughtful gifts. For Christmas, if you give me $100 cash, I could care less. If you give me a $100 gift certificate at a restaurant, I truly appreciate it, because it was thoughtful. To me, cash just says, “I don’t know what to give him and he’s not worth trying to figure it out.” This rule goes for family and friends alike, but to varying degrees. My father will usually Gove me cash for Christmas and I appreciate that, but he has tried for the last forty-four years to figure out what I like. Mother was always in charge of gifts for a reason and I am fine with that and with my nearly eighty year old father now not running out to a new restaurant to get a gift card for me. When it comes to gifting, if you don’t know me well enough to try, I don’t want a gift from you. That is not an insult. Please spend the money on other people that you are closer to. In fact, spend $20 on your own lunch and invite me to join you and get to know me better. I will truly appreciate the invitation. I really like the thought.
Too many people don’t know I appreciated them when I did so I started saying it. Over time, it became an automatic response and like many forms of automation, it has a robotic tonality to it, but it is genuine none the less. People should know when you appreciate them and what they have done for you.
Anyway, please know that I’m not grateful, I am appreciative frequently. Thank you!
Picture a young Michael Beebe, fresh out of La Porte High School in ’93, diving headfirst into the world of hospitality with a busboy gig at the old La Porte Holiday Inn. That hustle led him to an Associate of Science from Purdue-North Central in ’95 and a Bachelor’s in Hospitality Management from Purdue-Calumet in ’97 (those schools are now merged into Purdue-Northwest, by the way). Michael’s early career was a whirlwind—running a 140-room hotel in Indianapolis, where he learned the ins and outs of the industry but realized it wasn’t his true calling. What did spark his passion? Teaching. He found himself thriving in front of students at Ivy Tech Community College and Lake Michigan College, sharing the art and science of hospitality management. Oh, and he also moonlighted at WIMS radio in Michigan City, juggling both on-air and behind-the-scenes roles with his signature high energy.
Politics? That’s been Michael’s sidekick since he was 18, registering to vote with a fire in his belly to make a difference. He threw his hat in the ring for La Porte County Council in 2010, where he got a crash course in the power of social media marketing. Undeterred by not winning, he campaigned for Indiana’s General Assembly in 2012 and took another shot at the County Council in 2014 and 2016. Though he hasn’t clinched a seat yet, Michael’s relentless drive to serve shines through. Lately, he’s been pouring that energy into helping other candidates who champion personal liberty, amplifying their voices with his knack for strategy.
Here’s a twist: Michael once co-owned a tattoo shop, despite having no ink himself. As the business manager and marketing guru, he leaned hard into low-cost, social media-driven campaigns to put the shop on the map. That experience fueled his love for digital marketing, and now he spends his free time crafting websites and boosting businesses online—a true labor of love.
These days, Michael’s living the dream as an independent contracted transporter, crisscrossing the country while getting paid to soak up new places and cultures. When he’s not exploring, he’s parked somewhere scenic, laptop open, building his digital consulting company, Spark Plug Strategies, or penning his thoughts. He even wrote a few books.
Based in La Porte County, Indiana, Michael’s embraced a “decentralized laptop lifestyle,” blending work, travel, and passion projects into a life that’s as dynamic as he is.