You remember the old phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover,” well that is true in life as well. Don’t judge someone until you take the time to read their book.
I know firsthand what this feels like to be judged. I have a chronic illness, but to look at me, you would never know it. I have heard all the hurtful comments from, “she does not look sick, she can’t be chronically ill, just look at her.” Well, guess what. I am chronically ill. I suffer from Fibromyalgia. This is an illness that so many people still do not understand or even accept, but it is real.
In my professional life, I can also be judged before my book has been read. As a top-level Administrative Professional my career has required high confidentiality. Sometimes I may not appear to be approachable, but that is not me as a person.
We often judge people based on their professional position rather than who they are. It does not matter what their title is; that is just a title. What matters is who they are as a person. How can you decide who a person is based on their title and the company or person they work for? You can’t.
When you take extra time to stop and talk to that person, you may be amazed to find out who they are. I will never forget when someone came to chat with me. They found out that my husband and I had a Harley Davidson, and they about fell over. They had this picture of me as this uptight professional person who would never do anything like that.
Another time when I was out of the country for work, we decided to invite everyone over to our home for a cookout. We had put in long hours and had been away from home for several weeks. One of the people we invited approached one of my colleagues and asked what he should wear and what he should bring. He wanted to know if he should wear a suit. My colleague said, “Heck no you don’t know Aimee very well.” He assumed because of who I worked for that I was always business professional. My colleague told him that I was his assistant, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t like him.
Because of my positions, I have been judged as someone who is always a business professional, and that is so not me. I am a casual, paper plate, red solo cup type of girl. We like to grill out in our backyard and be as casual as possible.
When someone makes an assumption about you before taking the time to read your book, then it can easily cause you to be negative. I could easily be negative, both professional and personally, but I want to be me. I want to live my life as positive as possible.
I have chosen to live positively, and this is my choice. I want to write my own story. Living positive each day makes me feel that I have a purpose. I am a giver, helper and have a servant’s heart.
You can’t change who you are or your personality but, you can embrace it and understand it. You can live a very positive life. Is it going to be easy? NO. But you can do it.
You have the strength and ability to live life on your terms. Will you?
Comments