I’m a Cool Aunt

When it comes to the Goods in life, I’m not sure it gets much better than this.

Throughout life, people will tell you that you shouldn’t care what anyone thinks of you. To some extent, this is some of the best advice you’ll ever receive. The thoughts of many people are governed by emotions like jealousy, arrogance and pride. The opinions they form about you are based in these emotions. None of these emotions favor you.

Regardless of how good that advice is though, it’s often hard to heed. When harsh words are flying, it can be difficult to close your ears to it, to harden your heart against it, to not let it affect you. Especially when you have exceptional hearing and your heart has never really been armored. Maybe what some people think shouldn’t matter, but they can still hurt you if you let them.

And, the fact is, some people really do matter. They should matter. As of late, I’ve come to the realization that these people, the ones who do and should matter, fall into two groups: people whom you love and people whom you admire.

These two sets of people have a lot of power over you. These are the people who can make or break you at any moment of any day. Sharp words from their mouths cut more deeply than words spoken by others. Uplifting words from them give you considerably more altitude.

Simply because you care what they think about you.

When life is a struggle, went you can’t seem to chisel out your place in the world as you envision it, it can feel like failure. If you stop and allow yourself to think too long, you sometimes start to wonder how these people, the ones that you actually care about, see you. You wonder if they see someone trying hard or someone failing hard.

Then, something like this happens –

That’s my oldest nephew. Now, I don’t know what happened or what was being discussed that made him decide to write this. I don’t even know that I deserve it.

But it’s mine now. And I’m keepin’ it.