I haven’t been blogging for some time now. Too busy. No time to think. Been living like on auto pilot for the past few weeks. Get out of bed. Go to work. Meetings, meetings, meetings, calls, calls, work, work, and more work. Traffic jams. Come back late. Take shower. Take some zzzzzzzzssss. And start the same thing all over again.
LUCKY! I snapped out of it…before I sunk deeper into the monotony. Then, I met some new folks, one of whom is the CEO of a company…she made me feel uncomfortable. She liked to refer to employees as “my girls” or “my boys”. I suppose there a lot of people out there who don’t see that as a problem, but it sounded downright condescending…I guess it was the way she said it. I suppose there are two types of what I call the “my-girl, my-boy” people. There are the protective, motherly, don’t-hurt-her-or-I-will-kill-you-and-feed-you-the-dogs ones and the look-I-am-the-greatest-and-I-have-all-these-minions-working-for-me, self-indulgent ones. And my apologies, I digress.
The point I was trying to make is this – there are many, many people who like to distinguish themselves and value themselves based on how much material things they own, people who judge or value others too based on the same things they judge themselves by - looks, wealth, status, connections, and some even by the skin color, culture, race, religion. Look, we are brought up and/or influenced by society to have prejudices and social expectations. It’s a “very human” thing. Most of us, I think, most of us do it unknowingly.
I do it too. Just the other day, an unshaven, disheveled-looking guy with old, stained clothes entered the office and the first thought that came to me was “is he a thief, should he be here?!” (…until I was told he was the office part-time cleaner); someone across the table in a restaurant who shouted at the waiter who brought salt instead of the pepper he asked for, for his boss at the table (he then turned and faced his boss smiling away in an instant); a friend who always sound so irritated and impatient with sales people on the line (not realizing how she herself is someone who needs to do a lot of pitching and “selling” over the phone as well – and she’s been fortunate that she has nice enough clients who don’t do the same to her); people who don’t acknowledge courteous security guards who greet us…ah well, the list goes on and on…and on.
Here’s the thing: having prejudices is normal, but it really is how much you’re aware of it and how much you’re willing to respond differently is what matters.
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The trick is to really know how much YOU are worth first, then, the rest will come. Here’s how: (YOU + all material stuff you own + your friends + your family + anything else that can be taken away from you) MINUS (all material stuff you own + your friends + your family + anything else that can be taken away from you) = YOU. The only thing that can never ever be taken away from you is YOU. The kind of car you drive should not define who you are or be part of the calculation, your wardrobe, your job shouldn't define you, even the friends you have (and yes, your family too!) shouldn’t define who you are (and be responsible for your life).
So…now you are left with YOU…how do you like yourself, how much do YOU think YOU are worth now?
You know what? I’m guessing a lot of people will answer me this way, “I am nothing then”. BUT you don’t have to be nothing because you are everything. You will know what I mean when you start ADD-ing all the enriching “things” that CANNOT be taken away from you to YOU, to your Life.
Now, that's worth a lot!
