Pages

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Thick-skinners

source
It took Dr. Seuss twenty-seven tries to get his first children’s book published. Imagine a world without him...I don’t want to go there either. I say a world without Seuss is a world without wise. 

Remember this Seuss gem? “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” No doubt Dr. Seuss had some pretty thick skin.

Thick skin. It's pretty important. Test yourself: how thick is your skin?
  1. To what extent do you let life get to you?
  2. Is it better to underestimate or overestimate challenges?
  3. On a scale of one to courage, where do you stand (or fall)?
  4. Does it linger when someone disagrees with you?
  5. Is competence more important to you than risk-taking?
  6. What are you avoiding trying and why?
  7. How well do you take criticism?
  8. How would someone else describe your initiative?
  9. What’s keeping you up at night?
  10. How hard are you pushing yourself?

No matter your answers, three thoughts:
  1. Thick-skinned people don’t feel with any less depth than anyone else nor do they kid themselves that they are any less clueless about life than anyone else.
  2. But despite the pitfalls and downfalls and faceplants and naysayers and multiple attempts, thick-skinners move on and move forward every day. 
  3.  And so can I (and so can you.)


4 comments:

Debra She Who Seeks said...

All I know is that my skin is a helluva lot thicker now than it was when I was young. That's what age, experience and maturity does for you. Nothing about acquiring a thicker skin is pleasant, of course, don't get me wrong.

Geo. said...

Having trouble commenting. I think I was able to follow your site via GFC but my comment shot back into the past somewhere. Anyway, have arrived via Chicken's blog and enjoyed the visit.

Pearson Report said...

Great post - full of pearls of wisdom.
The questions are thought provoking and warrant the time taken to answer them. I have, eye opener they were!

ToBlog today said...

Self-reflection should be on everyone's list of things to do. Thank you for posting this today.

I have discovered that since I've been meditating I've noticed I am not so reactive to people's reaction to me, even more importantly, I am not so hard on myself. It's important to take risks even if you don't feel like it. :)

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...