Saturday, May 27, 2006

Do as I say, not as I do

Go outside. I said: go outside! So what if I'm sitting inside writing this? Listen to what I say.

Absurd under some circumstances, yes. Nonetheless, I find myself often dispensing advice that I don't follow. Now before anyone who I've ever provided advice to starts to wonder whether I am some sick bastard that likes to give bad advice and see what a mess I can make of people's lives, I assure you I'd happily give a money-back guarantee on any advice I've given (lucky for me nobody pays me for advice). ;) My challenge is knowing (or thinking I know) how things should be done but then promptly not doing them. I assure you, it has served as a great frustration. Obviously, if it frustrates me, I should do something about it. Have I? No, of course not. I guess I don't want to change things enough to actually follow through with the process of changing.

I wonder if I can't abide by my own advice, should I be giving any at all? I don't know how not to. Being all counsellor-y, it would be a great challenge not to try to help where I can. Maybe using the advice I give to other people as a way to frame my own experience is the way to go. If it is "obvious" that someone else in a similar situation should do thing-A, then by extension, I should also do thing-A. Oh yeah, that'll work.

Are you still reading? I told you to go outside a while ago.

2 comments:

Nicole said...

did you end up taking your own advice?

Don't beat yourself up all the time. You're still tops in my books.

justin said...

You're sweet Nic. I can't say that I ignore all of my own advice. That means I can always figure the glass is half full. Right now, I just think it's half. But that's not so bad.