Opinions

These past few weeks I learned how easy it is to let opinions that do not belong to me affect the way that I live my life. Now don’t get me wrong – I think it is important, if not vital, to have trustworthy people in your life that can share wisdom with you. What I found is that when I lose sight of why I am making a decision in light of those opinions, I’m simultaneously embracing confusion, heightened emotion and unnecessary stress.

Let’s transition into a real world example, such as the event that led to this post (in a very Cancer-like fashion LOL). I was recently promoted, which is great, but I will be leaving NC in order to fulfill this new role. I’ve lived in NC for many years so there are plenty of emotional factors that are making this move emotionally rough. Nonetheless, I ultimately decided I wanted to accept the job offer. Before I knew it, the unsolicited opinions started rolling in and what previously was a celebratory opportunity became a stressful, seemingly lonely and confusing situation. I started questioning why I was even considering this opportunity in the first place.

These opinions were coming from people I respect, so I found myself out of sorts when they no longer supported my decision. I confronted my non-supportive group thinking it would make me feel less frustrated and confused, but, as you can guess, ended up feeling MORE frustrated and confused. The drama spiraled out of control and the joyous occasion was gone.

You may already be thinking this but…I most definitely invited that stress into my life. I made the stress feel at home by embracing it and gave it no urgency to leave by fanning the flame with my confrontations.

We have the option to decide how we react to these opinions and how we factor them into our decisions. In this experience, there was no reason to get into a funk about losing support of accepting this promotion and relocating. I had already made plans to have a new role and competitive pay by the summer of 2021, prayed on it consistently, manifested an opportunity that would allow me to advance financially and prepared myself for it. So why am I stressing as if I don’t know what to do? The short answer is that I let go of reason and grabbed onto validation.

We talked about planning at the start of year and how crucial it is to living life intentionally. Planning also requires a solid foundation (full transparency – life requires a solid foundation, but I am trying to be specific today). My solid foundation is and will always be Jesus Christ. I find scriptures to support my decisions, pray, pray again and proceed accordingly. God has been very consistent in letting me know when I am making the wrong moves, so I put my trust in Him to have the final say in all areas of my life.

With that being said, I encourage you to nurture your foundation, then make your plans, and seek your wisdom with a grain of salt – knowing that your foundation has the final say. Do not let validation from the world disrupt your clarity, vitality for life and purpose.

xoxoxo,
DASH