Hey, friend -
When I decided pep talks would be my schtick, I didn't actually think through how difficult it might be to offer one up every week(ish).
Particularly given <gestures broadly at the whole world>, I've been struggling to offer something that doesn't feel hewn from a big ol' slab of Toxic Positivity.
Don't worry, though: I'm not about to share my opinions about <gestures broadly at the whole world> in this email.
But I do have something to say about opinions in general.
When our opinions become our identity, it becomes much harder to recognize truth.
It's like this...
When we think X, and we encounter evidence that, in fact, it's actually Y, one of two things can happen:
- We can change our mind, because X was just an opinion. So a shift in perspective doesn't feel threatening.
- We can lose our mind, because Y is an insult to our very humanity and by God those people aren't gonna tell me what to think and if you agree with them then you're just as much of a moron as they are.
I say it this way in the book I'm (thinking about but not actually) writing:
It's like we're holding opposite ends of a tug-of-war rope, feet caked with the mud of our own perspective, hands cramped and bloodied from holding the ragged edges of our own opinions, voices hoarse from berating strangers for being… people.
As far as I can tell, we're more likely to do this opinion = identity thing when we're too far up in our heads about stuff.
So maybe the solution is as simple as this...
Pep Talk #029: Lead with love.
That's it. That's the pep talk.
With love (I mean that),
Kelley
