You are only the center of YOUR universe.
Hi guys and welcome to the 50th episode of the Wildly Successful Lifestyle podcast! 50! Can you believe it? First of all, let me say thank you all. Thank you for coming along for this ride and listening and sharing. It means so much to me to hear that you are enjoying a certain episode or sharing it because you know someone else who would benefit as well. So thank you. I feel like you guys are part of our team and I love that, I hope you feel that way as well.
So I am going to start off this episode with a little story. It is one I think of often and it helps me with perspective. I hope it will have the same effect on you. There was a man on a subway train in New York. He had 4 very young kids and they were running around that train like little crazy people and he seemed oblivious to it, like he didn’t even care. A woman sitting close finally had enough and let the dad have it, saying he needed to quiet down his children, the man, apologized profusely and said he would make sure to do it, they had just come from the hospital where their mom had died and so it was hard on them and he was trying to figure out what to do next. I think about this story whenever someone is having a bad day…maybe a waiter is a bit grumpy or the store clerk is slow, or someone is letting their baby just cry. I have no idea what’s going on in that person’s life.
Life is so interesting isn’t it? And relationships with other people make it even more interesting.
Think about the relationships you have whether it’s with your mom and dad, your siblings, your friends, your coworkers.
These are the people that often shape our world. Do you understand that each one of these people has a life outside of you? And yep that includes your mom. I’ve seen those memes where the daughter is like what else does my mom have to do besides answer the phone when I call?? I mean seriously. How can you not answer? I find it funny and so true. We often think we are the center of the universe and we are but it’s only the center of our very own personal universe. Your mom, as long as she is healthy, has a whole other set of problems, friends and life outside of you. Same thing with your friends. Sometimes you think something another person does has something to do with you and often, it has nothing to do with you! That’s a good thing.
Our brain likes drama, it also is egocentric. It will try to make you think that everything going on around you has to do with you. That waiter doesn’t like you, the store clerk is lazy or deliberately being slow. Your coworker must be mad at you because they haven’t said good morning.
Have you ever gotten your feelings hurt because someone didn’t respond to your text only to realize they never got it? Or they got it, wrote out a response and forgot to hit send?? Honestly I have forgotten to hit send more times than I can count.
The sooner we realize each one of us has things going on that others may have no idea about, the sooner we can be more understanding that they also have things going on you know nothing about.
You see, we are all on our own journey and each person and experience adds to that journey by inspiring us, entertaining us or helping us grow in one way or the other.
And it helps to Remember we can only control our experience by way of recognizing our thoughts, we cannot control anyone else’s experience.
Sure what we do affects others but when we are being true to ourselves and who we are, being the best version of us, then the others around us will either rise to the occasion or they will fade a bit and that’s ok too. You aren’t responsible for anyone else thoughts about you only for your thoughts about you or anyone or anything.
The point is to give each person grace. Give each person the benefit of the doubt. And most importantly never forget to give yourself grace as well. We are often harder on ourselves than anyone else, I work on this daily. Remind yourself that even though you’re the center of your universe, your partner is the center of his or her own universe, same with your mom, your friends, your co workers and anyone else you spend time with. I love you guys and if you liked this episode and it helped you it may help someone else too, sharing it is a way we can all make the world a better place together. Thank you so much for listening and sharing and I can’t wait to talk to you in a few days…
