Being Right

I highly doubt that I'm the only person in the world who wants to be right, but since I only have my life experience to draw from, that's what I'll talk about today.

Being right has been a HUGE part of my life. This was one of the ways that I could easily gauge how I was doing in life. At work, I knew I was successful by being right. And not that others couldn't be right too, but I for SURE had to be right. If there was a certain way to do things, rest assured that is the way I'd be doing them. That way, anyone who came around could see and know that I was right. But it didn't stop there. Anyone that had the pleasure of learning anything from me had to learn the 'right' way to do it. The way the table was set up, the manner in which to move their hands and, of course, a time frame to complete the task in. How else could a person measure their success?

I kind of looked at life like a math test at school. The answers were already lined out, the teacher had to have the answers to the test before the test was given to the students. It was possible for more than one student to get 100%. I didn't care if everybody got it right, but I for sure had better because that's how I knew I was okay.

So, I can see how in school, or even at a job, this could be a positive attribute. By having this desire and drive to work hard and to do things well, everyone can benefit. My hang up is in my relationships.

Relationships are quite a bit different when it comes to being right. See, each person has their own idea about what right is, based on their life experiences. How can my sister tell me I'm right when her information from her life tells her she's right? It just doesn't work that way...

Another issue with being right in relationships is that if one person is right, that means at least one other person is going to be wrong. I'm fairly certain that other people on this planet hate to be wrong almost as much as I do. I HATE to be wrong!!! It seems to go against the very fiber of my being. If I'm wrong it means that I didn't have all the information, something changed mid-stream, or heaven forbid!, I actually made a mistake. That is not my life - I refuse to play that way.

So, if I'm hell-bent on being right, all these people in my life have to be wrong time and time again. I'd really hate to be in relationship with me!

Now comes the part where I tell you how I've been able to let go of this desire to be right all the time in my life. Except I haven't really figured that one out yet. I'm in that process right now. The cool part is now I'm realizing how many times and all the different ways that this is impacting me. One of the things that just occurred to me this morning is that being right is crippling my body. My desire to be right is coming out in physical ailments that are challenging most days and even worse on some. What's exciting is that since I've had this realization, I can let go of it and put my energy to better use.

What's funny is that as I write this realization, I can feel my body responding positively to this idea. Where I'd been hurting just a few minutes ago, I'm not having that same discomfort...I'm thrilled at the effect I can have on my life. I guess if I want to look at it a certain way - this is truly the only way to be 'right'.