How We Affect Others…#FacingOutward
As I spend more time on earth, I think about how much more introspective
I’ve become and I guess you can give some of that to maturity (hopefully) but
most of it to a good therapist. I used to truly believe that my actions only were
my issue but some 20+ years later, I understand a whole lot better that each
and everything we do affects someone else in some kind of way. I took for
granted that my spoken perspective, however right or wrong it was, would later “taint”
my sons to my way of thinking, good, bad or indifferent. Looking back, I heard
my father say a lot of things that I didn’t understand why he was saying them,
but I locked them away in my memory banks only to later feel like my life was
an extension of his. Now let me clearly state – My father is the best man I
know. He is the model for me, He is the example that I have tried to live up to
as a father to my sons, not an athlete, not a movie star – my father is my role
model; And he shaped me, including the good and not so good. I often wonder “How
have I affected my sons and the close friends and family around me?”
Which begs the question – How are you HONESTLY affecting
your family and friends?
When you curse somebody out in traffic with your kids in the
car, what do you think they’re going to do once they drive and you’re not in
the car?
Are you displaying a positive, faith based attitude or
secretly living in the negative around your family and friends, assuming that
nobody you interact with is affected and/or cares?
Are you #FacingOutward, meaning doing for others from a
supreme place of care and not out of obligation or with the hopes of doing
something for others with the desire of getting something when you need it? Or
maybe you just don’t do anything for anybody else because your stuff is the priority
and if they aren’t “Checking for you, why should you be Checking for them.” Let
me tell you first hand – That affects people as well…
If I’m having a difficult day and take it out on those
closest to me, that causes them to feel “a certain way” about interacting with
me. That tends to snowball and soon, people change the way they deal with me
just to protect themselves. Who in their right mind, man or woman, wants to be “jumped
on” because they were being themselves and I have an issue? If I’m running
late, speeding in traffic, cutting people off, cursing them out all because of
a lack of planning on my part, my “issues” is affecting everyone I come in
contact with during my travels. A dreadful day at my job shouldn’t poison the
people around me as I’m in control of that. Because my side hustle or personal
life isn’t working out the way I want to in the time I want it to, that’s no
reason to not reach out to one of my friends to see how they’re doing – maybe I
can help them in some way. But I’m so important that I’m not thinking about how
I affect others, I’m just thinking about myself.
#FacingOutward
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