I saw a very interesting meme yesterday that packed a powerful punch:
“Stop yourself from stopping yourself.”
Just five words but let’s stop and think about that.
How many times have you stopped yourself from taking the next step or making that call or sending that text? What might have happened if you had gone ahead?
Now obviously there are times when you should stop yourself, and I can imagine there probably have been a number of times I should have done it myself.
- Stop yourself from saying those hurtful words.
- Stop yourself from having one more drink.
- And stop yourself from reaching for that pan while you say, “I wonder if this is hot?”
This really hit home for me yesterday because I was mad at myself. I was supposed to meet my son-in-law for golf Friday afternoon. My daughter’s husband has been interested in playing more golf since he got some new clubs for Christmas. Yes, it’s taken us awhile to schedule an outing. First, the weather was never good when he was free plus they’re doing some work on their house so many weekends are taken up. The day after the 4th he was off so I made a tee time.
Well Friday came and there was a threat of showers and my weather app (more on those in a minute) called for rain right around the time we were due to tee off. I thought, “I don’t want to play in the rain.” Plus, “We probably couldn’t get our money back if we have to stop.” And I was tired…. oh I had plenty of excuses.
Guess what? Our scheduled tee time arrived and there was no rain. It never rained at my house until later that night.
I felt stupid.
I texted my son-in-law and said, “Sorry. How about Sunday?” He can’t make it. He said, “How about next Friday? I have half-a-day?” I can’t make it. Maybe we’ll make it out by Labor Day.
I stopped myself and I missed out on an opportunity.
Lord knows what else I have missed out on.
Back to weather apps for a second. The meteorologist we work with at WSAR, Rob Carolan, does not like those weather apps. I asked him why and he pointed out that most of them rely on the models and computer data but there is no human interpretation. They simply spit out data with no one to analyze it. There was a day last week when I was looking at the radar and telling my wife, “According to the Weather Channel radar it’s raining here right now but I don’t see anything.”
Where was I?
Why do we stop ourselves from doing things? Fear is probably a main reason. Not that it’s actually scary or dangerous but many of us fear the unknown or we fear failure. If it’s outside our comfort zone we don’t want to even try it. But… what if? What if we try it and go to that new restaurant or that barbecue we were invited to. What if you go to that meeting with someone who has a new idea they’re excited about? What if you say, “Yes. I will go to my granddaughter’s recital.” If one thing does truly lead to another you may have started a very enjoyable journey.
It’s just something I thought about this week. I need to stop myself from stopping myself.
Again, let me reiterate, there are times when you should stop yourself. When you are thinking of using hurtful words or doing something dangerous. Maybe, in that moment, take a breath and ask yourself, “Should I do this?” Why or why not? If there is no logical reason… why not give a try?
Catch up on previous Sunday Columns by clicking here.
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