Why We Should Accept Others' Observations

It baffles me when people aren’t up for hearing truth. I don’t mean truth in the Jesus sense of the Truth, but in the, “Hey, I’ve recognized this about you and thought you’d like to know” kind of way.

I say this because when I go around my family, I notice things. We’re not around each other all the time, so the differences stand out to me, just as they stand out to my family when I go around them.

A simple example of this is that one of my nieces started clearing her throat – a lot. I mentioned to this my brother (her dad) and he said they haven’t even noticed it. Which makes sense. Over time, you blur your ears to things: you get used to the train tracks, the squeak in the floor, etc. 

My goal for the future is to be open to comments like this – the things that have started in my life that I haven’t noticed: poor posture, bad habits, my kids’ behavior seeming funny, my critical attitude, whatever it may be.

These things are important for someone to tell me because when you see yourself and hang out with yourself (or your kids or your spouse) every day, the changes slowly run together and you don’t realize how far away you’ve gotten from where you’d rather be.

To dig a little deeper into that, I know a lot of people don’t want to hear their “faults”, and not because they don’t want to change them but because their ego is too tender. Ego is a complete other topic. 

I have an ego, too. Who doesn’t? It doesn’t mean I have to allow it to get in the way of me becoming better.

To say we could be better seems like we’re saying that where we are isn’t good enough. Truthfully, from where I stand, there’s always room for improvement.  

So, yeah, I hope to stay open to the observations of others throughout the years. 

And this post will remind me if I forget. 

Staying open to constructive criticism,

Venus