Thursday, September 13, 2007

Never Assume...

A lady said something to me the other day that I quietly took offense to. It doesn't really matter what she said. What is relevant is that I chose to let it bother me.

Frankly, my ego was bruised. I tried to not let it show, but it irked me that this woman assumed something about me, and my art, without even knowing anything about me other than I sculpt stone.

You know what they say about assuming...well I was pretty sure she was an a....nnoying judgmental jerk. And of course, that I was innocent, misunderstood and unappreciated.

I chose to believe that, and I chose to let it alter my day...in a less than positive way.

Wow. Assuming can really be bad.

Know what I realized this morning?...maybe you are ahead of me here...I have no idea if she was judging me, or making an assumption about me! She made a comment that I chose to ASSUME was an assumption. So who is the a....nnoying judgmental jerk. That would be, moi.

Once I figured this out, it no longer mattered to me what she said. It might be true. Or not. Maybe if she knew more about me and/or my work she wouldn't have said it...or maybe she would have. Maybe it was a comment about her and her work and not about me really after all. (Gosh, you mean the world doesn't revolve around me?)

I allowed my emotions to be controlled by an imagined slight! I am freed by the knowledge that it is not relevant what she said, or even what she meant by what she said! I can choose to be pissed off or hurt, or I can choose to move forward, quite happily, with my life and my work, in my own way, at my own pace. I have decided to choose the latter!

Oh, and don't get me started on presuming versus assuming!

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