Tag: principals

I was having a pretty interesting exchange of FB messages back and forth last night with an old friend of mine.  The exact nature of the topic is not terribly relevant, but she raised a few concepts in a fashion I never previously considered… and THAT is the stuff of blog posts my friends.  Pure blogging gold.

So my old friend (herein after “OF” for the sake of expediency) is the same age as me and was talking about things she has noticed at this point in her life.  The biggest thing she noticed was that she’s begun to take very firm, passionate positions on certain topics and that results in one of two divergent reactions when those topics come up: she is either fiery and combative or just lets it roll on by as if it never happened.

And you know what?  It makes complete and utter sense to me.

I’ve written about this before, but I’m someone who finds that it’s absolutely critical for my own personal sanity, success and well-being in life to have a set of principals to guide me.  Anytime life gets on the wooly side, I know I can rely on these principals to help steer me along a path that will be consistent with who I want to be as a person – what could be more important than that?

As OF and I were discussing, we are both realizing how much more this matters as the years begin to slip by.  What’s interesting is that events or people or situations that conflict with these principals can have one of two effects: (1) You go on the attack because something is assaulting that which you hold so dear or (2) you completely ignore it because it is out of line with your principal and, quite frankly, it’s not worth even a precious drop of your emotional energy.  Now, which things elicit which reaction are completely dependent upon each individual person… but I’ve noticed I have my own little list of things falling into that second category.

Yes, these are the things I just don’t have time for.  Enjoy.

1. Negative, jaded, toxic people or drama queens.  I could go into this at length, but it’s something I’ve covered previously here. You suck the life out of me and you’re just not that interesting, so I just ignore you and move on.
2. Internet forums.  My God did I ever waste some time on a bodybuilding and fitness forum at one time.  Now, I will say that I actually developed several very cool friendships through those forums and I’ve gotten the chance to hang out in person with several of those people.  That was a huge positive… but for the most part?  It’s an incredibly convenient way for people to be cowards.  Seriously.  Where else do you find so many people who can be so ugly and confrontational?  And only because they are safely squirreled away behind a keyboard and able to anonymously spew their venom without any consequences at all.  Ugh.  No thanks.
3. Super political people.  I’m a politics major with philosophy and English minors and a law school grad to boot.  I’m more

   

   than a little accustomed to people debating politics.  That’s cool.  I’m even good with people who are really into following politics or reading a lot on it.  You know who I just ignore?  The people who feel utterly compelled to argue relentlessly with me about political topics when they find out my views.  Dude, I hate to break it to you… but I’m just not that interested (which of course only sets them off to further heights of utter hysteria).

4. Anyone who thinks my training/lifting program is “weird”, “strange” or “excessive”.  I really don’t have any anger on this one at all – it just doesn’t matter to me if someone feels that way… and believe me, there are quite a few people in that lil’ rowboat.  A  matter of fact, y’all are doing me a grand favor – the more people comment on what I do as being “insane”, the more I know I am doing the right thing.  Thanks for keeping me on track, my peoples.  Much appreciated.
5. Anyone who doesn’t realize the greatest journalist of the past 50 years is Heidi Watney from NESN. I will not debate this and refuse to engage in yet another meaningless discussions about Edward R. Murrow or Walter Cronkite.  The Heidi knows all, sees all, rules all.  Obviously.

The final takeaway (to me at least) is this: Many may think people become stubborn as they age… and hell, they are probably right, but I am beginning to see this as not nearly as bad of a thing as it is often made out to be.  While some may become stubborn and close-minded, let’s not forget that sometimes we are finally hitting our stride of knowing what our true values are… and how damn important it is to protect them.