Do you read many blogs? I read quite a few. Some are more special than others are, no doubt. Some blogs touch you in a place that others don’t even come close to. Know what I mean? One person who almost always is able to reach me with just the right message is Steve Olson. I don’t know for sure what it is about Steve that imparts meaning to me, but in many ways I find that he and I share some similarities in our lives, and that probably makes his writing meaningful to me.
In his most recent article, “Are you an extraordinary person?” Steve writes about his upbringing and how so many external influences pushed the message that he was nothing and never would be anything. Steve talks about how this message was so engrained in his mind that he just accepted it as a fact, and went on to live a life of mediocrity, never striving for more. I mean, you are what you are, and can’t change it, right?
Well, Steve did decide to change what he was, and to become an extraordinary person instead of just an ordinary person. In the process, he came to the conclusion that every person is extraordinary. I believe he really reached the truth when he discovered that!
The thing is, for me, you should always strive to be more than who you think you are. The other thing is to show people that you are more than they think you are too! Imagine, the people who told Steve that he was nothing. How many of those people know what he turned out to be, and how extraordinary he is? He has shown them that he is more than they expected, by being more than he thought he was.
In my own life, when I was in Elementary School my teachers said I was gifted. By the time I was in High School, I was living in another area, and I was treated by my teachers like I was below average in intelligence. But, I always lived my life to show people that I was more than they thought I was. It always helped me achieve new levels of success in life too.
These days, I am self employed, and I don’t worry too much about what most other people think, but for those who are important to me, I still try to exceed their expectations of me. There is only one downside to this, and that is that when you live this way, people’s expectations become quite high, and are not always easy to meet. You have to work extra hard to exceed those expectations.
It’s worth the work, though.
Bob,
Thanks for the shout out on your post. I’m glad we made a connection. Your comment, “you should always strive to be more than who you think you are” is spot on, to be more, is to grow. It took me years to learn another related lesson. You are either growing or you are dying. Life is not static, it is fluid, thus you can’t hang on to where you are or what you think you are. Let go and grow.
Hi Steve – Thanks for stopping by my new site. I fully agree with you, and feel that it is important to keep growing every day. Take care.
Good word to live by, Bob. We both know so many people who are trapped inside that attitude that tells them others can ‘be somebody’ but they can’t. Somehow it gets taught to so many of us at an early age.
To all reading this who think, perhaps, that you “don’t have it in you” .. let me assure you that each and every one of you does have it in you, and all you really need to bring it out is a fan club of one … yourself.
Hi Dave – Nice comment, and thank you for stopping by this site. I totally agree, we all have it in us. Some may have to dig deeper than others to find “it” – but indeed it is there is you look hard enough.
I believe in the saying ” The power is within You”. You can do almost anything if you believe you can!
As an example, I always believe that I am not a writer. But with my first and then second articles just published recently by http://www.huliq.com (on Ecotourism in Marinduque and US National Parks), I no longer feel like a frustrated writer but a full pledge citizen journalist. Good Day to All.
Hi David – Welcome to my personal blog! Congrats on having your articles published on Huliq, that’s cool!
Good thought to live by Bob. Another that goes hand in hand with that Is “What can one man do?” Perhaps in the big picture not a great deal but for a few people He can change their world and outlook on others. But he can’t do it if he does nothing.
That is very true, Joe. I can paw from experience that even one person can make a huge difference in the life of another person. Helping others is something that brings me great low!