Being Proactive

I have a younger brother. He's 18 months young than I am. If you were to meet him then you'd see how different we are. We don't look alike, he's an introvert while I'm an extrovert, he's a math and science person while I'm an art person, etc. The point is, we are very different from each other. One of our biggest differences is that he is reactive and I am proactive. When it comes to buying things in the store, he thinks 'what do I need now' but I think 'what do I need now and what will I need later.'

This tends to make me a bigger spender than he is, which he sometimes finds ridiculous but that's ok. Being either proactive or reactive isn't necessarily wrong but it will give you different consequences. If you are reactive, you wait for a problem to come to you and then you do something about it; however, if you are proactive then you deal with a problem before it even becomes a problem, or a bigger problem.

Personally, I love being proactive. I like solving things before they even become an issue.

Whether you are proactive or reactive, the Bible tells us to work and to be diligent about in our work. Whether you are a student or a parent we need to be diligent and work. My mom always tells me to do everything I need to do in one day in the day I scheduled it. Like that I can deal with tomorrow's problems tomorrow and not have to deal with the problems of yesterday and tomorrow.

I know we all have a degree of laziness in us. Sometimes all you want to do is eat, sleep and watch TV. I know I've done it before. And it's good to take some down time, just not too much of it.

I encourage you today, not only to work hard, but to enjoy the results of your hard work.

P.S.: Be proactive :)

Proverbs 10:4

Poor is he who works with a negligent hand, But the hand of the diligent makes rich.

Admitting You're Wrong

I am one of those people who don't like to be wrong. I will fight and make up the stupidest of arguments sometimes just for the sake of 'not being wrong'. Eventually, at some point, I have to stop and admit how ridiculous I'm being and admit that I am not right. It's a pride issue. I'm sure there are a lot of you out there that don't like to be wrong and that don't like admitting you are wrong. But sometimes you have to admit you screwed up.

Recently I screwed up big time. Like, I have NEVER messed up a friendship like I messed up this one. I got caught in the middle of a couple. I was a friend to both of them and it was never my intention to hurt any of them. They were having some trouble during a period of a couple of months and over and over again I kept sticking my nose in their business. I always wanted to know what EXACTLY was going on with them and I wanted them to tell me about EVERY decision they made as a couple. I always wanted them to keep me in the loop of things because I just wanted to KNOW what was going on just for the sake of knowing.

Because I have the bad impulse to want to know things. My curiosity kills me.

Bad idea.

Now it's been about two months since I've had conversations with either of them. And I can't really put into words how GUILTY I feel about pushing my way into their relationship. I was really close friends with both of them but now I'm not. All because I wanted the relationship to be between three people instead of two.

Lesson learnt: don't stick your nose in business that isn't yours.

It took me a while to ask them for forgiveness because, like I said, I don't like being wrong, I don't like messing up. But sometimes you have to understand that you have to value your FRIENDSHIPS over your PRIDE.

You don't have to always be right. Insisting that you are right and others are wrong can just hurt people and damage your relationship. In my case, I did not admit I was wrong and over and over again I caused more and more damage. I completely blew it.

It is better to give up a fight than loose a friendship.
People are more valuable than your ego. I had to learn that the hard way.
Hopefully it's not too late for you.

- Ruthie