I absolutely love the AMAZING Modern Mrs. Darcy blog, written by Anne Bogel. I have received some of my favorite book recommendations from her, and I won’t lie, I totally geeked out when she accepted my Goodreads friend request. She wrote a great article on supporting your favorite authors, and has written countless posts about organizing, reading, and life in general. So when I heard she was writing a book, I got SO excited. I finally got her book from the library this week. Sidenote, can I just say I was SO grateful she said something about getting books from the library in the article linked above? There is/was a part of me that feels bad about that….I mean, I’m an author and I want people to buy my books, but I rarely buy books. So thank you Anne for giving me permission to do what I love and not feel bad about it.

So her new and amazing book is called, “Reading People – how seeing the world through the lens of personality changes everything.” My biggest takeaway so far is to embrace who you are as a person, and not try to fit yourself into who you think you should be, who you want to be, or who others want you to be. I am grateful for all that I have learned about myself over the years, and I am much more gracious and patient with myself. I have learned there are things that really drag me down (thinking about my previous alcoholism too long, spending too much time on social media, watching certain shows, etc.) and that sometimes, I just need to eat, dance, and take a nap. Anne is totally speaking my language in this book! I can’t wait to finish reading it and tell you more about it!

So even though I know social media, Facebook especially, drags me down, I still get on….all….freakin….day. It was NOT easy being on Facebook during the whole kneeling versus standing debate. I have a very passionate opinion about it, I think it’s reasonable, and a number of my friends have a different opinion. I didn’t want to say anything because I thought, “there’s NO way what I say will change anyone’s mind.” But then I saw a post by a friend, asking an honest question, and the conversation that followed was civil. No one got mad at anyone else. No one called another’s opinion wrong. It was absolutely amazing. So even though 99% of what I saw on Facebook over those days made me mad or roll my eyes, it was her post, that caused me to share my thoughts.

Here’s what I wrote on my Facebook wall:

“I think the world would be a better place if we didn’t make assumptions about people. I think that we are all guilty of some ‘ism” every single day. I make judgments of people. I assume things about people. From big things to little things.

I made a little thing judgement today – thinking people would make fun of me wearing a Batman shirt with a cape, and I was proven wrong! To bigger things like – people can’t have civil discussions about things on Facebook – again I was proven wrong.

If we took a minute, even just a minute, to try and put ourselves in someone’s shoes. To understand why they did or said what they did, we might not agree, but would could more peacefully co-exist. The last few days have shown me that people are really passionate about both sides and that’s awesome! It has shown me freedom. It has shown me there CAN be civil discussions. This is a great reminder to look at ourselves and ask ourselves why we do what we do. I think it’s a great reminder that patriotism to one person looks different to another. It’s a great reminder that one person will kneel for a different reason than another person. One person will stand for a different reason than another. I’m grateful to live in a country where we can have different opinions. I’m grateful that there can be peaceful ways to make a statement that starts a conversation. I have to say I have learned more about the NFL, flag handling policies, and things going on in our country that I didn’t know about just a few days ago. I was reminded to be grateful. And I am grateful that I can have an opinion, I can post it on Facebook, and if someone doesn’t agree….well, they’re free to do that too.”

I’m sure I will still hold back sharing what’s really on my mind on Facebook. I’m sure I will continue to think what I say won’t change someone’s mind. But I am thankful that I was proven wrong that day.

When was the last time you were proven wrong?

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