This really is a great read and I have found myself not only thinking about some of the things that have resonated with me, but even trying to put some things in practice. I am about self-actualization, making myself a happier, more content human being. I don't know if there is anything other than what I see, feel, taste, sense, hear in this time and space, so I most definitely want to be the very best I can be. One life, live it.
I don't really believe in notion of role models (for myself, I can't tell anyone else how to live) although there are people I admire. I just don't believe in looking up to others because they are humans like myself with fears, highs, lows and determination just like myself. The difference may be that they are public figures, I am not. There lives are different from mine and the same as mine- the leader may be any one of us.
It is true that the giving up of our pride will lead us to a deeper truth as we are able to place the focus on others and take it off ourselves. That is sometimes a very hard thing to do for we are so focused on things and what we have achieved and how we compare to others...
Life often gives us ice for trails sometimes, there may be some who have been slipping and sliding on ice for what seems like forever, I am convinced that our attitudes is what makes the difference. I have oftentimes said to my friends, "I know things will be alright in the end because it always turn out so, but I hate the going through". And, how I complain about the going through!! As opposed to complaining and avoiding the obvious, I know I ought to learn from these experiences and absorb the lessons that are being taught. I need to begin to think outside of the box I have placed myself in.
Participate!
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| I am so afraid of the water, but I faced my fears, I participated! |
Nykoli,
ReplyDeleteI also don’t believe in the notion of role models. I don’t talk with many people about this because a lot of people feel very differently. I believe in mentors but not role models. Just like you said we are all humans and we all make mistakes so no one is perfect. So many parents let their children look up to people like Miley Cyrus and then when poor Miley Cyrus makes a mistake (as we all did while growing up) she gets ripped apart by the media, and parents. I wish parents would use situation that Miley Cyrus has found herself in to teach their kids lessons about life. Instead a lot of parents want to place blame on Miley for just being a young adult growing up in the media. It makes me think that parents find it easier to let other people be role models for their children when in fact they should be the role models. That is just one small example of why having a role model doesn’t sit well with me.
Now, where my husband works all managers have to be a mentor to a young employee. I think this is a great idea and I wish more places would incorporate something like this. The place he works really encourages mangers from other departments to find people they connect with and mentor them. My husband has 2 mentors, one of them asked if he could mentor my husband, and then my husband found someone else that he wanted to mentored by. So once a month he has lunch meetings with these mentors and they talk about goals and things that he can do to achieve them. Now to me that is effective, way more effective then just idolizing over someone who is going to make mistakes.
I just finished reading this book called The Happiness Project. I think you would really like it. It’s a bout a women that for 12 months she does things in her life to see if it makes her happy. If it makes her happy she adapts them into her life, if they don’t then she doesn’t adapt them into her life. It’s a great and easy ready.
Katie,
ReplyDeleteI am in shock (pleasantly so) to find that someone (you) is in agreement and of course you have provided an execellent example. it is so much easier to blame others than to look at ourselves.
Wow! Sounds like a great environment that your husband works in. That is the way to provide encouragement and 'leadership'. These mentors are not be idolized from a far, but they are up close and personal and your husband and others get a sense of their humanity (which is missing in having role models.
I will look for that book. Thanks Katie.
Wonderful interaction with the reading. We have to face our fears, even if our fears are what happens if we're successful. How weird.
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