No. 11 | I read a popular writer recently who encouraged his readers to put their key life lessons into brief, memorable statements. He may have used the word pithy. No matter, many life lessons are learned the hard way. Capturing them, remembering them, being ready to share them are all good things. I appreciate the encouragement given by the author.
I have gone part way on this very thing for quite some time, but I have not been particularly intentional about it. I certainly was not in the habit of writing my memorable life lesson statements down. I do so now.
I have found as I have formed the habit of putting them into writing that I am still quite busy learning. This is a good thing as I know all too well that I still have much to learn. And that is not all bad as I love learning.
I set out to write about this idea that I tend to call “Hard Questions.”
What I have called “Hard Questions” are these questions that I must ask myself when I need to overcome some problem, often a personal problem. This might be a bad habit I need to break. I am sure I do not mind the habit so much, but the results of the habit are causing me some real trouble. This might be a situation I keep getting myself into because I do not want to hurt someone’s feelings. Maybe I want to shade the truth a bit, but that comes back to bite me. Maybe I fear causing someone pain by saying say “no”. But then I endure the pain of a seriously overburdened schedule or workload. It might be that I cannot ever go out to lunch with my co-workers in January because I overspent on Christmas. What I am describing is a question I must ask and answer in order to resolve the situation in a way that stops the pain of it.
For me, there is always a hard question, or a few, that I must face up to in order to stop and avoid in the future whatever pain I am experiencing.
I have wondered recently if I should term it “Hard Answers”. Usually, I have found the questions quite easy to identify. The answers are undoubtedly the hard, and sometimes painful, part.
At least for now though, I will continue to call them “Hard Questions”.
As a side-note, the author recommended statements. What I have offered here is at best a phrase. Just two words, but they do help me. In my defense, I have asked myself and faced up to hard questions for quite some time. Still, maybe a brief and memorable statement will come soon now that I am looking out for one. When it does, I will share.