Instead of underestimating, we must accept the fact that we
are influenced by everything. Whether we
believe it or not, we are, it’s true. The
thoughts we have, the words we say, the people we hang out with, the things we
are involved in, the media and entertainment we choose to listen to and
participate in all impact our life. It
is impossible for it not to. Being
underestimators can be dangerous and can have a negative impact on our
life. Though extremely difficult, we must
do our best to overcome this innate flaw.
Now it’s true that some of these things may more heavily
influence us than others but that doesn’t change the fact that everything has
some sort of impact. I’ve heard many
times the famous words “if I do it just once it won’t hurt” or “occasionally
participating in this is not a big deal” or “it is ok for me to be around these
type of people because I will never become like them.” The truth is, it just
might hurt and it can very well be a big deal, and most likely you will become
much more like them than you may want to admit.
It is hard to decipher or measure just how much things impact us but I
can tell you they do. We are impacted by
everything around us—it shapes us, changes us, and effects who we are as a
person. This is the bottom line and there
is no reason to deny it anymore.
So what do we do?
Though we are not in complete control of everything around us, we do
control a lot. And of those things we do
control, we need to always make sure it is things that will uplift us and help
us to be better people.
I have to confess something else. I’m also an overestimator and you may be
too. I overestimate my personal strength
and ability to overcome and withstand being negatively influenced by things
that surround me. I allow those negative
thoughts to fester about my spouse thinking “it is ok this one time, I have a
right and she really ticked me off today”, only to find myself with real and
strong bitter feelings toward her all created on my own. To my dismay some inappropriate commentary
that I casually listened to on my drive in to work that I knew was probably
below my values is now replaying over and over again in my head disrupting my
concentration on an important project. Disappointingly I find myself losing my
temper with my children over silly things, something I’ve observed others do
and vowed I’d never do myself. Shockingly, I hear myself use the same
inappropriate and offensive language that my closes friends use whenever we get
together after I had assured myself I would never go there… Yep, it is true, I am an underestimator and
an overestimator too.
We are influenced by the world around us and what we allow
ourselves to think, say, hear, see, and do has an effect on us. It is unavoidable. And I have yet to meet a person who is completely
immune and strong enough to withstand completely the negativity that surrounds us. It is true, we will never be able to always
avoid “bad influences”, it is simply part of living but being vigilant and
putting ourselves in the best possible places to succeed will really help
us. We do control a lot—how and where we
spend our time, who we associate with, what we say, think, and do. Rather than
underestimating the impact of things around us and overestimating our personal
strength to withstand, we should try to do the reverse. If we can exaggerate the impact the negative
in our lives will have on us, and underestimate our personal will to overcome,
we will put ourselves in a better place to reach our potential. This is not easy to do, but I know the best
of us can do it.
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