It’s our first time being human…
Nobody’s journey is perfect.
Nobody has made every “right” decision, taken every “correct” opportunity, or avoided every shady obstacle.
We’re all stumbling, learning, crawling, failing, and flailing through life one day at a time. What’s taken me FAR TOO LONG to discover is this:
There is no multiple choice in life. There is no “correct” answer (save that of the saving faith in Jesus Christ). There is no clear, A+, “winning” life well-lived.
There is only YOUR life. There is only what YOU decide to do with your days. There is only how YOU decide to spend your time.
Once you realize that there is nobody here grading every decision you make (save the Lord, and I’ve heard he’s pretty merciful), you become less afraid to fail. When you embrace failure as just a fund, hands-on approach to learning, you won’t fear it so much.
This is the first time on this planet for ALL of us. It’s our first time dealing with people, experiencing failure, healing from old wounds, trying new things, and putting ourselves out there.
Sometimes, we focus so much on judging the journey of others instead of embracing the beauty of our own. We don’t realize how that behavior, how that horrible habit impacts our journey.
What does it do to us, you ask?
I’ll tell ya.
Once you become a critic of others, you give voice to your own inner critic. You give power to the constantly self-sabotaging, hyper-critical, never-pleased part of your mind that is IMPOSSIBLE to satisfy or silence.
When you feel tempted to judge someone else’s journey: well you don’t know what they did in their 20s, they are a horrible person because…, they aren’t that good at x, y, z, and ON and ON… just do this instead:
Think: I’m grateful they’ve come so far. I’m grateful to God that they might have changed since then. I’m grateful that even though they may not meet my taste, they are doing what they love and finding folks who love what they do.
Gratitude is a powerful gift. It is so often under-used and forgotten.
I’m 100% guilty of this.
Every day, I’m learning to silence the critic and find gratitude. Because a critical life is a drag.
A grateful life… now THAT is a life well-lived.