Other people may want to understand. They may even have opinions about the things going on in your world and the things going on in their world. But, whether it be about
- you
- how you are handling your life
- your mission
- whether you deferred our went straight back out
- your transition home
- your college experience
- who you’re dating
- or a myriad of other things…
People really don’t need to “Get It,” so long as you are confident in your beliefs and confident in why you do what you do.
People Will Have Their Opinions
Even though people have opinions, that is just their thoughts, based on their experiences. And we aren’t required to adopt their thoughts or judgements at all.
Sometimes we get so concerned about what other people think, that we lose sight of what we really want. We lose sight of what our opinions really are. When we aren’t confident and worry about other’s opinions, it skews our own thinking. It confuses the “why” of what we do. It may even keep us from truly believing and feeling how we want to.
An Example:
Here is example of how this came up in the last few weeks:
Recently, someone told me how sad it was… that all of the missionaries out right now, and the ones awaiting reassignment, and the ones in the home MTC are all getting short-changed.
I wanted to tell him that he was wrong. I wanted to tell him that the five months my son has been home from his mission has been very challenging. But, it has also been one of the best, most beautiful experiences. Maybe the most incredible thing that has ever happened to our family and to our missionary.
There were highs and there were lows. We laughed and we cried. He experienced growth and stayed stuck and then he grew some more. My son and our family learned things that we could have never learned in any other way.
I wanted to tell this man that nothing had gone wrong and that thinking of the situation as “less than ideal,” only makes me feel, and my missionary feel “less than ideal.”
This man probably doesn’t even know that if if he wanted to, he could see this entire situation a completely different way.
He could believe that even with the difficulty, that everything was working out exactly the way it should…
And the way that it was ALWAYS meant to.
Looking for Problems vs. Embracing the Situation
But, his brain was looking for the problems and that is what it found. On the other hand, my missionary and my whole family took what was given us, accepted it and embraced the entire experience.
Listen… I believe that no one has been, or ever will be short-changed, or jipped, or gotten the short end of the stick.
We all have the ability to intentionally think and feel however we want. Especially about to our own experiences. And as long as we are secure in who we are, it’s totally okay if people doesn’t understand. It’s totally fine if they don’t see it the same way.
They really don’t need to understand…
Because you will.
