New Years Resolution – Be A Fountain, Not A Drain

Be A Fountain, Not A Drain. I first heard this expression in early 2023 listening to the Kelce brothers podcast. In 2010 while a sophomore at the U of Cincinnati Travis Kelce was suspended by his coach for testing positive for marijuana before the Sugar Bowl. He was suspended for the entire following season. At the time, his coach, his coach told him, in life you are either fountain or a drain. You are a drain.

Kelce changed after this and from then on he worked on being a fountain. There are lots of examples of this but probably the best was by his girlfriend Taylor Swift when accepting an award at the VMAs earlier this year. She said about Travis “Everything this man touches turns to happiness, fun and magic”. Kelce is not perfect and has flaws like the rest of us, but it is clear he has worked very hard on becoming a fountain, not a drain.

My New Years goal for 2025 is to be a fountain and not a drain. For those that know me this will be a tough challenge. Hopefully I am not a drain, but by nature I not much of a fountain.

Every day we have a choice, we can compliment or criticize. We can affirm or correct. If we disagree with some one, we can disagree without calling the person names. Remember, thoughtful intelligent people can disagree without being disagreeable.

We can be that person who is always complaining or one who is inspiring. Its a choice.

On a personal level are people happy to see you, or are you that person who is always critical or correcting the people around you? If the best part of someone’s day is when you leave the room, you might want to take some time in self-reflection on why that happens.

On a social, political level, are you part of the solution or the problem. If your solution to a problem is to call those with whom you disagree derogatory names, you are part of the problem. Fountains try to address problems in a thoughtful informed manner. Drains always make the problems worse. 


Some years ago I had some clients with whom I had worked for years. When they retired, one of the first things they did was volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and ended up in a Southeastern state building a house along with other volunteers. Well working on a house someone said to the guy next to them, “hey, are you Jimmy Carter”. The guy answered yes, but then said “let’s not worry about that now, we are here to work”. Yes, it was the Jimmy Carter who just passed away. As many know, he did a lot of volunteer work for Habitat for Humanity along with other organizations. I would suggest he was one of the greatest Americans of all time. In today’s world, there are few if any political leaders who contributed to humanity as he did. He was a man of faith and lived his faith by helping others. There are very few of today’s religious leaders who can say the same. Jimmy Carter was a fountain.

When he lost his second Presidential election to Ronald Reagan, he and his wife had a choice. They could be fountains and this was the path of their choice.

Most of us have a choice also. We can choose to be a fountain or drain by how we live our lives and treat others on a daily basis. My New Years resolution is to strive to a fountain.

Happy New Years to all.