Sometimes We All Need a Kick in the Butt
“The human body has two ends on it: one to create with and one to sit on. Sometimes people get their ends reversed. When this happens they need a kick in the seat of the pants.” – Theodore Roosevelt
Come on, admit it. You’ve made a few mistakes you wanted to kick your backside for, right? We’ve all been there. The point is, what do you do about it after the fact?
For many, myself included, the realization that we’ve made a mistake is a definite disappointment. While there are times when our slips come at us when we’re completely unaware of what we’ve done wrong, other times we secretly know that the direction we’re headed is putting us on a collision course to failure.
Strike that last word. Nothing is ever a complete failure as long as we learn a valuable lesson from it.
Still, pulling ourselves up and facing the truth of our actions requires a certain amount of courage and humility. These two are not mutually exclusive, nor are they necessarily easy to come by.
For one thing, it’s never easy to acknowledge the error of your ways. It’s also tough to be humble enough to accept we’ve done something stupid, ill-thought out, or just plain wrong.
That’s what the other end of the human body is for. We have a brain that allows us to fashion workable solutions, create innovative approaches and design brilliant strategies for plan implementation.
It doesn’t matter if what we’re trying to rectify is a selfish preoccupation with our immediate wants as opposed to tending to everyday family needs or something more serious involving career, relationships, health, financial well-being and more. That self-realization that we need to make a change in behavior and start doing things differently now begins with a metaphorical swift kick in the butt, self-delivered, of course.
* * *
See more on my website, suzannekane.net.
Want to get my free newsletter? Sign up here. I post highlights from my blog, my Daily Thoughts and more.
Photo by Brooke Cagle