Who Defines You?

“What follows ‘I am’ is far more important than what follows ‘You are’.”  I put that quote up on Facebook a while back and got a LOT of traction with it. It seems so simple a concept – what you think and say about yourself matters more than what others think and say about you. Right? There shouldn’t be any argument about that. But in reality, we spend a lot of time thinking and worrying about how others perceive us; what they think of us; how they view us; what our reputation is and so on. I’m as guilty as the rest. And then something will happen, or I’ll ready something or hear something… and it’ll help to ground me. It will remind me: what I think of me is more important than what someone else thinks of me. It’s easy enough to do and it’s completely understandable at times: people make an observation about how you look, something you’ve done, what you’re wearing… whatever it may be. If it’s a compliment we always love to hear it. If it’s a compliment from someone we actually care about, it can mean the world. Isn’t it interesting though… we highly value those compliments from people we care about and who we believe care about us, but society has reached a point where unsolicited compliments from a stranger are creepy? Whatever happened to the days of being courteous and, thanks to that, being able to pass on a politely worded compliment to someone who simply appreciated the pleasure of receiving the compliment? – – – – – – – – – The remainder of this essay can be found in the book “Farther Down The Road” Farther Down the Road – Where does your life’s road lead? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CTJ1B2QR