Did you ever think about that? That your primary role in life is to teach others something? You may not know exactly what but you are here to do that? Look at how children model their parent's behavior and mannerisms. Older people do that too. People are always watching you. If they see something they don't think is right they will remember you. But if they see something that they think is wrong, they will also remember you. Keeping that in mind, how do you want to be remembered? Can you think about that the next time you try to cut someone off in traffic or worse yet flip them off when they cut you off? Do you have to respond "in kind" to people or can you respond and "be kind".
What side of you do you want to show the world? We all think about this to some degree when we do something "important". Yet we need to let this thought guide us in everything we do.
What is it you have to teach others? You may be saying "not much. I'm not a teacher, I'm a business person." Always remember that more teaching is done outside of the classroom than in it. Just ask the many parents who had their kids out of school during the pandemic.
It also pays to remember that you teach other people how to treat you too. If you can't say "no" or aren't very good at setting boundaries (like me) then you may end up feeling that you've been taken advantage of. But no one is taking advantage of you, they are just doing what they always have done. You have always said "yes" so why is it bothering you now? Do you let other people or your kids take advantage of you? That is on you? Be the victor, not the victim and simply take control of your life. Don't give it away to others. You'll be doing them a favor by teaching them how to recognize a problem (that you can't set boundaries) and then how to solve it (by starting to set some but doing it gently - so as not to frighten yourself or others.
Everywhere you go, everything you say, and everything you write on social media follows you forever. I cringe when i see people yelling at the employees at a fast food place (there are a lot of those lately) and throwing food at them. What message are they giving people - not only about how they think others should be treated but also how it's ok to be hateful and then act on that rage. We have seen a great increase in that since 2016 and it hurts my soul to watch the hate surface again against pretty much anyone who is DIFFERENT. I hate to tell these people but they are DIFFERENT too. It is up to us to teach kindness, love and understanding. This is not something to do only when it's an event on the calendar but every single day.
