My Goals Aren't Your Goals But We'll Both Be Okay
My mom always made grill cheese sandwiches in a toaster oven. We didn’t have a toaster oven when I married and moved out so I made grill cheese in the oven on broil. My husband blew my mind when he cooked his in a skillet. A skillet of all things!
Turns out cooking a grill cheese in a skillet isn’t wrong. In fact, as I’ve discovered, many people cook their grill cheese in a skillet. It’s for sure different than my toaster oven method, but not wrong. Seventeen years later we now cook our grill cheese on a griddle. A beautiful third option.
Different isn’t always wrong it’s just different. Weird sometimes, but not wrong.
A few years ago a friend posted on social media that they just wanted to be an ordinary person living a normal life. Last week another friend posted about working hard preparing for a sporting competition because he wouldn’t settle for being average. Two completely different mindsets and neither of them wrong.
Accepting that other folks’ goals may not be as intense or attention seeking as my own took some time. I still step back in shock from time to time when I discover some of my dear ones have no desire to lead the pack, but would rather just shoulder their part of the load and keep moving. It's hard to imagine, but not every reindeer wants to be Rudolf.
Here’s a truth I’m trying to remember more and more: it’s not wrong.
It’s not wrong to want to do your work and go home to your family. It’s not wrong to want to stay home instead of traveling the world. It’s not wrong to want to be backstage and never feel the heat of the spotlight on your face.
Just the same it’s not wrong to want to lead your company and your employees into success. It’s not wrong to suffer from wanderlust and long to view all the great creation of our mighty God. It’s not wrong to enjoy the applause of a crowd.
It’s just different.
God created us all different, and what a boring world it would be if He hadn’t. Every industry needs followers as well as leaders, and lucky us, God develops the skills we need for each assignment we’re given.
This post serves mostly as a reminder to myself not to be so hard on people who aren’t as driven as I am. Their journey isn’t my journey. The burning desire in their soul is different than the one ignited within me. It doesn’t mean they are less passionate about the task ahead of them, it’s just a different task.
At the same time, for everyone who asks how I manage to do all I do, it’s more a case of I can’t not do what I do. Yes, I’m exhausted when I fall into bed at night but leaving any potential for progress unused builds up so much anxiety I can’t sleep. I’m not crazy, just different.
Maybe we can all learn a little from each other as we love the differences between us.
