Last night, #1 Son posted a comment on Facebook about how he apparently let somebody “get to” him, and that he should probably keep that person “at arm’s length.” In my response to him, I linked to this list, and I reread it myself (Suzanne — did you turn me on to this guy? I think you did.). Then, as usual, my thoughts meandered.
I recently told someone that my new philosophy for 2011 was “Let it Go.” I tested it bigtime last night for the first time this year. Someone posted something on FB and after I read it, I thought, “He means me.” But you know, we cannot control what other people do. We can only control how we respond to it. This person is transient in my life, and you can bet your last dime he’s not thinking about my reaction at all, so why should I worry about his? Let. It. Go.
A search on “letting go” revealed some interesting information on one site. (I’m certain “Dan & Jennifer” want to sell stuff, but I didn’t check into that, nor was I bombarded with ads.) Three sensible articles:
Banishing Negative People From Your Life
Hostility Blinds Us From the Truth
Letting Go
I found truth in all of them. They’re worth a read, and were actually helpful in my morning decision to press the Delete key and extricate this particular “letting go” problem from my consciousness.
Et voilà. Next!
Happy Almost Finkday to you, fiends. I’m off to Cincinnati soon………..
Now I wanna know who dis joker is so I can go to his profile and scoff at his pictures. Give me a hint?
I’ll just obsess over it until I find out.
In any case, it’s good that you let it go. If I know anything about you it’s that you (much like me) are one of those people-pleasers. (well, most of the time)
Here’s to letting things slide right off the shouldas!
HA – I heart you, Stefan! And I shall reveal all, when we get together for our palaver at Bux.
Lookin’ forward to it! You name the day, time and place and I’ll be there!
If only everyone would grasp this philosophy. Thanks for the reminder! Too bad it is harder said than done, eh?
Now Stefan and I need to figure out who this little punk is and rattle his clock some.
Unfortunately, there are jerks in every area of life. As a basketball official, I encounter some of them. I certainly need to let their comments go, but sometimes my perfectionistic, people pleasing nature kicks in and makes it a little harder to do. Thanks for addressing this and for sharing this info.
You’re welcome, friend — you are one of the biggest perfectionists I know, so I know you get me.
“We cannot control what other people do. We can only control how we respond to it.” – very true. Congratulations on that move BTW!
— awesome, that means a lot!
Have an awesome day!
— Dan & Jennifer
Thanks, D & J! I enjoyed reading your site.