I had a best friend call me out today about becoming “one of those people”. You know who I’m talking about? They’re the people you can’t stand to be around because they just won’t shut up about their success and good fortune. Well for a while, even though I was trying to publish my books and get out in that competitive market, I was desperate not to be like that. I never wanted to be considered so selfish my friends and family couldn’t get a word of their own lives in edgewise. And I thought I was doing a pretty good job of it. (AKA: first sign you’re the exact opposite of humble)
It really hit me hard when my friend held a mirror up to my face and showed me what being selfish has cost me. I honestly never thought anyone would say those things about me. And there’s a lot of contributing factors as to why it happened. But suffice to say when all you do is live in your bubble of a world, it’s easy to forget about people on the outside.
When people ask me how I’m doing I have to fight going into excruciating detail about writing, but the sad fact is that’s almost all that I do! See? I told you you’d be able to relate.
The trouble with pretending you don’t care about the things you used to care about, is you end up becoming numb to things you were sensitive to before. I’ve always cared about other people and like my dad have said people matter most, above anything material.
So this morning I received a healthy dose of humble pie and thought I’d share that with the rest of the world.
Be aware of how your actions affect others and never forget that what you say matters.
I know I won’t, at least not until the next time I royally screw up. It happens to all of us, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do something about it.
Think about it as you go through your work day.
Jennifer Silverwood 