Eleanor Roosevelt famously said: “ You must do the thing you think you cannot do." So, I’ve decided to get a tattoo. Not sure what is next. There’s a lot of things I said I’d never do and with this new perspective on life … no telling what’s next. (There’s plenty of things that I know I cannot do and really don’t want to do either, so I’m not going all crazy on doing stuff. Baby steps.)
The speaker from a couple of weeks ago talked about a new phrase regarding parenting today. She called it “lawnmower parents”. I’d heard of helicopter parents, but she said, the lawnmower parent is worse. An example would be the parent who calls up the school to harass the teacher into a better grade for the child/student. The concept comes from the visual of the parent mowing down every obstacle for the child so they suffer no hardship. Hmm. I’m who I am because I was fired a couple of times. I’m who I am because I missed getting my Eagle Scout (I didn’t do the final project). As a kid I was bullied and my folks could have intervened but I wouldn’t have developed/evolved the same. And to allow your kid/employee/loved one to fail or falter … that’s not always a bad thing. To learn from the failure is the lesson my parents taught me; “how can you change the outcome next time?” I’m who I am because I have regrets and failures in life.
It’s good to do things that make you uncomfortable. It’s good to test your boundaries and see things from a different perspective. When we do, we grow. When we fail, we need to learn from our mistakes. When we succeed weneed to celebrate and move the bar up to the next level. The world is full of possibilities and adventures and most carry risk. If we are risk adverse or protect others against potential negative situations, our growth will be hampered.
So jump out of the proverbial plane. Get the tattoo. Run the race. You probably won’t get hurt, but if you do, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and do the next thing on your list. Learn from your failures. No regrets.
