What a funny old world we live it. We blog (well I blog), we audition, we work, we don’t work. We do so many things. And as we progress we very often feel that we are the masters of our own universe, full of good ideas and suggestions that we want to impart onto the world in all their glory. Yes, I do this often. I’m a sucker for helping a friend out, sometimes regardless of whether they have even suggested it.
I know now more than ever before, that there are definitely different paths, directions and choices I could have taken and made. But to-date I did it this way and right now this is the most perfect place that I could be. And it is the same for each of my unique and wonderfully inspiring friends. And sometimes…. I should just let them go and get on with it. Let me elaborate.
Not that long ago I had a friend who was struggling. I desperately wanted to fix it all for her. In my head I had a full proof plan of attack for how she could move in the direction of her dreams (don’t we all love a little quote from Thoreau!). I had hatched a strategy that I was going to unveil to her. But this was an epic fail on my part. What I didn’t know or take the time to understand was that she was absolutely fine. She had already considered her options, worked out her end-game, and knew what she would and wouldn’t do. If only I had been as clever.
You see sometimes in life people don’t actually need us to fix everything for everyone. And we don’t need to be all things to all people. I once spoke about being too nice and not doing stuff for yourself. In the same way, we don’t want to be too helpful. Your journey is yours and you own it. But we never want to make the assumption that everyone else around us wants to be on that same journey. Lead and offer help with humility. Sometimes it is nicer just to there when asked, rather than to tell everyone else what they should be doing to fix their world. If you have ever had one of those ah-huh sort of moments like this, feel free to share it below.
Totally agree Ange, I used to do it many years back thinking I was "the expert" and it was obnoxious on my part, not to mention a waste of my time and theirs. Thesps gotta figure everything out for themselves I'm afraid, its their life, their journey, no-one elses
So true. Maybe you weren't actually obnoxious though, perhaps you were doing it from a genuine place of wanting to help (which is always good). But I do agree that it is our little journey, and sometimes best left to be ours to find, rather than be dictated to.
Thanks for sharing so honestly!