Last week a blog post I wrote for SiriusXM Canada Talks, where I host The Shaun Proulx Show, upset some of the people who did not understand it.
There were many. The post blew up on social media and so too did much negative emotion, aimed in my direction and at my family.
In the days that followed I was called names like misogynistic and transphobic (some of the politer slams); wrath came from every direction.
It’s not the first time something I wrote or said caused negative reaction and I know it won’t be the last. But it was actually a related tweet between @rafayagha (terming me “actual human trash”) and @_Confessor that dismayed me more than any name-calling could when it was brought to my attention:
“I’m always wary when one person thinks they have so much to offer the world,” @_Confessor tweeted @rafayagha.
It wasn’t the personal dig that made me cringe, but the false premise within, a great deception under which too many people live out their whole lives.
Anybody “wary when one person thinks they have so much to offer the world” is falling for one of the greatest lies we believe, when the truth is all seven billion people on our planet – every one of us – has so much to offer the world.
And that is truth each of us needs to own today.
Where do you fall on this idea? Do you have much to offer? Un petit peu? Zip?
I believe we all feel we could be playing bigger; I believe we all want to play bigger.
And I know we hold back, wary: Who do I think I am? Who do they think they are?
Well stop. >Tweetable!
“Your playing small does not serve the world,” Marianne Williamson wrote in A Return To Love in 1993. “There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.”
Williamson’s words were and are a gift that reminds us that life is short and to make it matter – each of us.
In May, my personal hero and inspiration, Oprah Winfrey, guested on my talk show. When I thanked her at the end of our conversation for the profound impact she has had on me without even knowing it, Winfrey said: “I’m so glad that I was able to play a role in your life. I feel that the joy of being human, is that we all get to do that for each other. I think in every moment, you just never know when something you say, or a look, or a glance, or a pat on the shoulder, or an acknowledgement to another person means more than you could imagine, because that’s the experience of our humanity, is reaching out to each other in graciousness and kindness, so I’m very glad that that happened.”
Me too, and Winfrey is bang on. We never know who, when, or how you touch someone else, but as I have come to learn after a decade and a half of sharing from wherever I’m at – and after a #ThoughtRevolution about my place in the world and what I have to offer; I didn’t always think I had something to give – the dividends are always huge when you make the investment of reaching out.
If whatever reaching out means to you feels bigger than you are right now – if it ignites fear inside you that someone might say they are wary of you, one person, for thinking you have so much to offer the world – I promise you that is all the more reason, a fat cue, to reach into the world and offer it your heart.
It’s fine if some are wary. Because even wary people, like @_Confessor, without even knowing it or meaning it, but who has now touched lives through one tweet – the joy of being human – give others permission to do the same.
You just need to say thank you, and take it.
- Related: How To Overcome Old Habits Of Thought
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Thank you Shaun for reminding us about the joy in being human and the journey we take to get there.
Cheers thanks Andria.
Spot on. Surround yourself with people who lift you. And my favorite book @The Four Agreements” says it all 1.Do your best 2. Don’t take things personally 3. Be impeccable with your word 4. Don’t make assumptions.
Whether people are unkind to you, say hurtful things… It’s never about you. It’s about them; their perception of their own reality. When we know that, it allows us to know they, too are just doing their best, and gives us more compassion. Rise up Shaun. You got this. Xoxo
Hey Jill, The 4 Agreements has been a great tool when stuff has hit the fan and this time was no different. Remembering them not only helped keep perspective on tract but allowed me to see something of value within the melee. Thanks for this share!