Sometimes in life people make statements about you, whether good or bad, we often brush them off as uneducated and wrong. I do this often. I’d like to share a couple thoughts I’ve had about it in recent years though. Some are things others have said, some I’ve developed on my own, and others I have no idea where they’ve come from, so for that reason we’ll credit them all as belonging to someone else.
-You can gain wisdom from anyone.
-There is an ounce of truth in most every statement.
-There is an ounce of fallacy in most every statement.
-If you see everyone as having the same problem, chances are you truly have the issue.
-When more than one party identify the same trait in you, how are you able to simply brush it off?
-First you must admit the problem.
-Second, YOU must change it.
-Third, YOU can’t give up!
-Often, the complaints you have about other people, someone has about you.
Change is difficult, it requires you to admit that what you were doing previously is not the best option anymore. In a sense it’s you admitting your failure. No one likes to feel that. Change forces you to be decisive and disciplined. For you to say ‘I am doing this!’ and putting away all other options for a specific time.
I am an imperfect man. I will never a perfect man, but I will be better than I am. I make decisions daily that direct my life one way or another. One of the most difficult things I’ve found whilst forging my identity is having to go against the approval of other people. I can not be who people desire for me to be, if it is not true to who I am meant to be.
Every person I encounter plays a part in the development of ‘I’, but no one should be able to dictate what is ‘right’ for me. Some in their life will leave having never owned a home, had a career, a wife, and children, and they may have lived to their fullest potential. Another may make six figures a year, have their boy and girl, and fifty years of marriage to their high school sweetheart, and they may have lived to their fullest potential. The issue we face in life is that no one is the same, no one lives the same, and we were never meant to be anything less than uniquely us.
When I start to hear the same complaint from multiple parties, I can no longer brush it off as their individual opinion. I must think and decide, ‘There must be truth in what they say, so Josiah, are you going to do something about it? Or are you okay with hearing that same complaint for years to come?’
I ask you this…
Are you willing to admit you’re wrong and that there are parts of your character you need to change. NOT JUST IDENTIFY!!!! CHANGE…..?
Maybe. I’m on the brink of growing up.
I say ‘you know i’m an ……….. whatever person’ as though that validates it.
Empower yourself to not be tomorrow, the person you were yesterday. You won’t always succeed, but if you determine and stand your ground you will become greater than who you were.
I could stay who I am. I could continue to make excuses. I could continue to be walked all over. I could complain about what others do. I could become jealous and envious of relationships, opportunities, and other people.
OR….?
In knowing all that, I will determine to change. Not for anyone. For when you change for someone, if you lose them, you’re change is lost as well. Rather change for you, and nothing, and no one else.
Wish me luck.
