I was watching Marcus Buckingham on public tv (I am oh so grateful to public tv)/radio talking about discovering your strength (book’s title is exactly that – Now, Discover Your Strength ) and I remembered how I felt when I read this book. It was as if some one gave me a ticket and a visa to travel to the land of “you don’t need to fix yourself any more.”
I really enjoyed this book and as you know, I enjoy learning new things, changing things from the way they are and make them better (I always find that thing which needs to be fixed, specially in myself J) I felt liberated as if I had been granted (of course by some book or scientist) permission to stop “fixing myself.” I don’t lie I was enjoying that too. I love learning and experiencing new things. Permission to accept myself just the way I am!! Focusing only on my strengths! I had spent most of my life getting rid of my weakness – imagine the time and energy spent. It is like hiking, going up huffing and puffing with only hoping for the joy of coming down, except that what you don’t know is that there is no down slop because you are up to fixing the next thing.
The idea is to spend most of your life doing things you are good at. Work will be effortless, you do better and then it feels good. You’d have more fun, will be more successful, etc. (wouldn’t you say you are successful if on your death bed you have a smile on, because you had lots of fun in your life?) Question: is it possible to be a person without any strength? In talks when guest speaker(s) say: every one has a gift! I love that, I repeat that, I say it to my children, my friends, to the people whom I want to encourage, but then, there is that little voice in my head which says: how do they know? Have they met everyone?
All my life I wanted to do many things and be in many places and of course I’d complain that while I am doing one thing, the others fall apart. And, then my dear friends would say: Sonia, you just do too many things – just focus on one thing and drop the rest – don’t be a hero. I know they are right, but I get anxious even thinking of not learning 2 or 3 languages, playing piano, guitar, painting, writing books, be a travel guide, on and on (my bucket is always half full J) before I die, not to mention saving the world!
Then I watched Barbara Sher on KQED and she talks about Scanners. These are the people who try doing lots of things and don’t finish many of them because they are all about learning and get board once they learn that thing. They are misunderstood by society who are trying to help them be “normal” just like them. Right on!! You go girl! I beg to redefine “normal!” Did you know that Normal is a town in central Illinois? That makes more sense.
OK, what now? Fix or no fix? For me, fix. Love what is, fix some more, love what can be, fix again, enjoy the process, love the progress, rest, another book, another subject – and you?
Ps. I was not writing because I had many excuses! Thank you all for encouraging me to write. This is dedicated to you. Thank you.