A Little Hobbit Wisdom
Only you can show what you are. You choose by what you do.
Elanor Brandyfoot in The Rings of Power
“You will never amount to anything.”
Maybe you never heard those exact words, but you got the message.
It could have been some sarcastic remark about your appearance. It could have been suppressed laughter apparently directed at you. It could have been simply a disapproving look from someone important.
Whatever it was, it caused you to doubt your value and question your worth.
But it wasn’t just that one time.
And it isn’t just other people. You talk to yourself in ways you would never talk to someone else.
You replay incidents from years ago and feel the shame all over again.
Your internal critic can always find something lacking in your interactions with others.
When you were a child, you didn’t have much control over your environment.
Today, however, you have significant influence over your external and internal environment.
You can choose to limit the time you voluntarily spend with toxic, judgmental people.
You can also discipline your internal critic to be helpful rather than hurtful.
Recognizing that you made a mistake is helpful, especially when you can repair the situation.
Once you’ve admitted the mistake and done what you can to repair it, however, replaying the situation on a continuous loop is just hurtful.
No matter what mistakes you’ve made in your past, you get to choose the person you are becoming.
The goal is not perfection, but consistency.
In fact, mistakes usually provide opportunities for growth and development.
A mistake handled appropriately can even improve both a personal and a business relationship.
You choose the person you are becoming by what you consistently do.
Individual actions may not seem important, but like compound interest those decisions repeated over weeks and years have a profound impact.
Are you becoming the person you want to be?
Thank your inner critic when it helps you get back on that path.
Tell it to mind its place when it becomes hurtful.
Keep making choices consistent with the person you want to be, and you will be surprised how much progress you can make over time.
Now available at Amazon: The Courageous Heart: Wisdom for Difficult Times in paperback and eBook.
