Don't take it personally.
I remember one school year struggling to please a certain parent. Her child was extremely challenging, and she did not agree with how I was disciplining him. I worried incessantly about her, and it made for a pretty stressful year.
I also remember reading The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz that year as well. Now to be honest, I really don't remember all four agreements, but the one that seemed to speak to me was, "Don't Take Anything Personally."
I kept trying to remind myself of this so as not to be so affected by her negative impression of me. However, if you are to follow this agreement to its natural conclusion this does not only have to do with negative opinions, but positive ones as well.
You see as long as I was getting positive acclamations I felt validated in what I was doing. I walked on eggshells hoping never to disrupt the apple cart of admiration. I must admit after I retired I was able to let out a huge sigh of relief that I no longer had to carry the stress of being approved of by my student's parents.
Fast forward almost ten years to the present where I share my thoughts and observations on my blog. Although, I have no idea who actually reads my blog unless a comment is made, I do have access to the actual number of people who check in each day.
As I look at the numbers I find myself once again looking for validation of my posts depending on how many people actually read them. Some of my most favorites along the way have not necessarily been the most popular in readership. I always find myself a little disappointed when this occurs. When my number are high, which sometimes they are, I feel more confident about what I am doing.
As I think back about the idea of not taking things personally I wish I was better at this. Not taking things personally can be harder than you think.
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