My apologies for my recent absence. I’ve been traveling for work and as much as I would like to make an excuse that it was really busy, I need to call myself out. Yes, life gets busy and there are other things taking a higher priority, but the real answer is I lost focus. I could have written this post while I was traveling. I just didn’t. And I think it is an important lesson for me. I allow myself to lose focus more easily than I like and I use the normal activities of life as my excuse. Sometimes I wonder if I’m a procrastinator, a self-proclaimed victim of the “shiny object,” or something else, but it is certainly something I need to figure out for myself. I know the list of ideas and things I want to do is long and if I keep losing focus, I will never move some of them forward. I ask all of you – call me on it! Help keep this woman on track! I know I am not alone in having this issue and I vow to help you too if you want me to.
So on to today’s post –
I was talking to my husband tonight and told him I wasn’t sure what topic I wanted to discuss in my post. He reads my blog from time to time, usually with my prodding, so he knows what I’m putting online. His response was to jokingly give me a proverb to use as a starting point, but it may be a better suggestion than he even knew at the time. So what was the proverb?
“Don’t approach a goat from the front, a horse from the rear, or a fool from any direction.”
It made me laugh when he said it and I was rather dismissive to the idea of using it. Thinking about it now though, I think there is a ton of truth to it. Not getting into the specific references about the goat and horse (those parts are both true too), but the fool.
We come across “fools” all the time. In my opinion, in this case a “fool” can refer to a person or it can be something more abstract like a decision, idea or situation. For me, a fool can be the voice of a jealous friend, an unsupportive family member, or a stranger with an opinion that thinks it should matter. It can also be a bad decision such as spending money you don’t have on something ridiculous, a crazy idea that can’t possibly end well or an absurd situation of which you don’t need to get in the middle — some crazy family situations come to mind as an example. All are things we know in our gut we shouldn’t listen to or do and we generally speaking, we should avoid at all costs.
I think it is also important to point out we have to avoid being our own fool. If we allow ourselves to be distracted from our purpose or have negative self-talk about our ability to achieve our goals, we aren’t doing ourselves any favors. As difficult as I know positive self-talk can be at times, we need to give ourselves the support in our own heads to help us achieve our goals. I don’t know about you, but I know my mind doesn’t shut off from the time I get up until the time I go to bed. My inner voice isn’t always the most positive thing to listen to – there have been some very tough days over the years – but if we let that voice be too overpowering, it can derail all of the positive and good we each have within us to do something great.
Put simply, a fool is a fool and shouldn’t be given a second thought. When you are trying to keep your life on track living on your own terms, as hard as it may be, we need to keep away from the occasional fools we come across. Life may be difficult and getting where we want may not be the easiest, but knowing if we keep looking forward and staying focused on where we want to go will get us there, you need to just keep plugging away it. In the meantime, I will keep trying to stay focused on my goals and the things important to me (like posting here!) and encourage you to do the same. I am going to go get some sleep before I have to go hang out with some goats in the morning…
Have a terrific, productive week!
~Steph
Mid Life Glimpse 