Hey! Thanks for giving me the week off. I didn't get a full week off, but I did get to relax a bit so it was nice. I got some emails about the blog not being up, but I figured you'd be OK without the blog.
This blog has been fun. I try to be transparent on it, because I don't think that its nearly as insightful if I'm never allowing myself to be transparent.
Here's some transparency for you: I get really annoyed with my neighbors who have messy yards. I know it may seem trivial, but I really do. I'm that guy who looks out his window at what my neighbors are doing and wonders when they are going to clean up whatever mess they are making.
I have a neighbor who had a heap of stuff in his driveway for about a month. Some wood scraps, and other miscellaneous things. It irked me. I would walk by it on the way to walk my dog, and i would spend time on my walking playing out the different ways that i could confront my neighbor about his eyesore of a driveway.
After about a month of this, it really began to annoy me. Every time I drove by I would look and get upset. My other neighbors approached me and told me that they had voted me to go and talk to him, which is great, except I don't really like confrontation.
I'm sure I'm not the only one that sees things that need to be confronted and have a hard time confronting them. Its painful. you don't know how the other person will respond, or if its going to have the desired outcome. It can be nerve-racking going through all the different scenarios in your head. But somethings need to be confronted head on.
I know there is probably some people who have a 'live and let live' mentality, but I don't think that works in relationships. Not in a marriage, or a church, or on your street. If you live with or near someone what you do effects those other people. And, sometimes, when people are allowing their freedom to infringe on your ability to enjoy your freedom, they should be confronted, lovingly.
Is there someone in your life that needs to be confronted? Something that they are doing that you have let go on too long? There is nothing wrong with loving confrontations, if they're done in the right way. Don't be afraid to talk to the person, ask some questions, and share your point. what they do with it is up to them. You did your part.
Here's to hoping the confrontation you need to do isn't towards me
matt
ps. i talked to the neighbor last night. he cleaned his driveway this morning.
I have a major issue with being non-confrontational. I always knew it, but it didn't hit home until I acquired a neat book with personality tests a few months back. On the test about being argumentative, my score was so low, it wasn't even on the chart.
ReplyDeleteWhere this trait usual rears it's ugly head is in the workplace. I have always been a team player to the point of doormat. I had an issue just last week where I asked my manager to do something for me. He then suggested an alternative course of action that didn't solve my problem. It had been hard enough for me to ask him to do something in the first place, so I went along with his plan. It turned out to be a big hassle for me, causing the very stress I was trying to avoid. All because I wasn't willing to say "no, your plan isn't going to work for me."
I needed this a few weeks ago. :)
ReplyDelete