There are
people that feel compelled to always draw battle lines. 
Constantly
testing relationships and the distance people will go for you is not the
healthiest way to live your life or build relationships. By continuing to
separate yourself from the world and challenging the depth of your
relationships, you will end up isolated and longer than arms length from the
ones you want attention and support from.
Don't be a
separator of things-be a unifier. Don't push or pull-attract. Be magnetic and
not polarizing.  Be inclusive and not
exclusive. Be a flame.
Standing
with your arms folded, waiting for the world to see it your way and adapt to
you is a ridiculous waste of time. Pouting till the masses decide to join you
and wondering why you are all alone. These are the things my 4 year old does
and then stops doing once he sees the other kids having lots of fun doing
something else. He then rejoins the group. 

Cut it out.
Find a better solution.
If you head
down this path and realize that nobody is following you, then your opinion and
belief is flawed or you've done a terrible job of convincing the crowd to
follow you.
Do you truly
want to be a leader?  Reset.
Erase your
line in the sand and come up with a better plan. Unfold your arms and stop
pouting. Erase the passive-aggressive posts from Facebook and stop chumming for
likes. Admit temporary defeat and realize you may have to approach this from a
different angle.  Holding others
accountable is a lot different than trying to force everyone to see and buy
into your passionate belief. Don't let your passion cloud your goal. Remember,
there are 1000 right ways to get there. Hell, even a few wrong ways will yield the
same results.
The world is
not designed to adapt to you or revolve around your feelings. Stop pouting and
stomping your feet. Stop drawing ridiculous lines in the sand and waiting for
everyone to give up and join you. It's always easier to get people to follow
you once you've joined in and built trust. 
Even natural born leaders need to #tryharder and convince the group of
their abilities.
Or you can
just continue to fold your arms and frown while everyone else is having all the
fun.  How's that working out for you?
#Tryharder.

It occurred to me, the other morning while grabbing my
jug of unsweet tea to have with breakfast, that everything that
"belongs" to me in the Murphy family refrigerator is on the bottom
shelf.

The cottage cheese-bottom

Unsweet tea-bottom

Roast beef lunch meat-bottom.

Spicy V-8-bottom  

The only thing that would be considered 100%
"mine" in the fridge would be the beer. Beer, the beverage that truly
belongs to the head of the household, is the only thing that consistently
resides on the top shelf. My wife probably puts it there so I can't make the
kids get it for me since they can't reach the top shelf of the fridge. I'm
certain that this is her way of holding something over my head; as you know,
wives have a tendency to play mind games with husbands in an attempt to prove
household dominance.  This isn’t common
knowledge?  Maybe I should make her get
them for me?   Hmmm.

I'm the tallest person in the house and all of the perishable
items that I use, on a regular basis, sit on the bottom shelf of the
refrigerator. There has got to be some symbolism in that, right?

Are you putting away the groceries in your life? That
just sounds funny to me. I'm laughing out loud as I type these words into my
iPhone. (I'm using the iPhone to write today, since my 4 year old decided to
drop my iPad a few weeks ago. Awesome right?) 
Are you taking the time to put yourself on the top shelf?  There are times in life when it is very necessary
to put yourself first. To make sure you are holding your needs and feelings
higher than those of others. You owe it to yourself to put your needs (grocery
items) on the top shelf.

If you allow others in your life to dictate the placement
of your needs and feelings, you will never be happy with the order and
placement of your life. You need to prioritize YOU and stand up and be
heard! 

I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO PUT ME IN THE CRISPER!!!  I AM TOP SHELF USDA GRADE "A"
BEEF!!!

This requires some work. 
You have to be willing to prioritize, do the shopping and put forth the
effort to properly shelve and place the groceries-your needs.  You have to communicate with the other
members of the family totem pole and they need to understand and respect your
needs and concerns.   Demand the attention you deserve and express
yourself.  If you do not, your needs and
feeling will be left to spoil. 

 Time to rearrange my fridge…while my wife is in the other
room. 

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