Dream Big (part one of many)
I’ve begun reading Bob Goff’s new book, Dream Big.
The chapters are quite short. Which I love.
I’m resolved to read one chapter a day, yellow crayon in hand for highlighting, slowly drinking it in. (I’m also resolved to work more on reading the half-dozen or so books I’ve also been reading though largely neglecting in my feverish pursuit of Spanish, but that is a story for another day.)
Anyway. Sorry to copyright law, but here are a few of my biggest takeaways and favorite quotes from each chapter I’ve read so far.
Introduction
“Some people are easy to connect with. If you want to achieve great things, find a couple of these people to do life with. Also find a couple of difficult people to engage with love. Don’t make them projects; make them friends. This is where you’ll grow. If you do these things, I promise you will lead a purposeful and meaningful life.”
I have a few friends, and exactly one in my life right now who is so easy to connect with about anything and everything. Anne. She is just wonderful. She’s the only friend, anywhere, who I’ve actually caught up with through phone calls instead of texts during these days of shutdown.
It took me a few minutes to think of a “difficult” person to “engage with love.” Then I remembered my mother-in-law. (She knows our relationship isn’t cozy, so I feel comfortable enough putting that out there.) So, to engage her with love, I sent her some pictures of my kids/her grandkids. The next day, I had them Skype with her. The day after, I replied to her text with a picture of the baby. I’m trying and I overheard her on the phone with my hubby/her son saying how nice and appreciated these little connections were, especially during these social distancing days.
That reminds me... now I just sent her another photo & video of the eldest kid. :) I’M TRYING.
Chapter 1
“Perhaps you’ve felt like you were different than your friends or family. That’s a good thing, and we’re going to need to settle into who God created us to be if we’re going to move ahead....at ease with who we are.”
I tend to be, um, “diplomatic” to a fault. And I try to be “flexible,” “up for anything,” or even “a trooper” - again, to a fault. I’ve somewhat mitigated these tendencies (especially the “trooper” one) since I went through counseling for postpartum depression eight years ago, but the tendency is still there, and it’s absolutely rooted in insecurity.
There aren’t many concrete actions I can set out to take without feeling obnoxious, so I just need to keep reviewing the idea and let it infiltrate my mindset. If someone asks my opinion? Share it. If something matters to me, or worries me, whatever the case may be - share that, too. That will NOT be easy for me, and will require the development of much self-awareness. Heck, even my Meyers-Briggs Personality Test results were only one point away from being a tie in each category when I took the test in a psychology class years ago (somewhat less down-the-middle since counseling, I’m thankful to say). I cannot be stuck in neutral. I am a dynamic person. Somewhere in there.