What could you do differently?
Watching the BB comedy series several times now from the pilot to the finale has taught me some things about myself. In hindsight I never knew I was a lot like Sheldon Cooper, but I was. Certainly not in the aspect of Sheldon’s eidetic memory, although my memory is pretty good, but in the sense that Sheldon was constantly correcting other people’s perspective on an issue. Sheldon seemed to have an answer for everything, a solution to every problem, that was simply better than everyone else’s ideas or solutions.
These days I find myself looking back and see a lot of that in me, with people or situations in the past where I might have been their Sheldon. It’s humbling to me that I acted or spoke in these ways, and I’m trying to do this differently now.
One aspect of Sheldon’s personality which I identify with but am striving to do differently today is this constant offering of an opinion before being asked if I even have one. Becoming highly sensitive to this flaw in my behavior was sparked recently in a conversation with a very dear person in my life. Without waiting to be asked if I had any ideas, insights, or solutions, in a conversation with this person I just jumped in with both feet and found them squarely in my mouth.
Not only was it not the right time for me to say something, it was not even something I should have said, or been involved with. In acting this way I instantly felt uncomfortable, wishing I had said nothing at all.
The person accepted my apology, and life with them goes on, but in this is a valuable lesson for all of us. Social media in general, regardless of the platform (TikTok, Facebook, Instagram or whatever), has given everyone the impression that we can just rant and rave to our hearts content about anyone or anything.
I’m going to try to do it differently. I’m going to hold my tongue, wait to be asked my opinion, make observations to myself rather than outloud, and most of all, think before I speak. What a novel idea, huh?
As I was saying... 