Chapter 23
“That's probably another thing I need to be reminded of,” Jon said.
“What's that?”
“To not want somebody else's backpack. I constantly compare myself to others; whether it's the money they make, the house they live in, or the car they drive. I even compare my kids' accomplishments to theirs.”
“The wide world of competitive parenting,” Buddy stated.
“What? Yeah, I haven't heard it described that way, but that gets at it.”
“That goes back to our core values,” Buddy said. “Nearly every parent on the planet would have ‘love my children well' as a basic principle. Yet they need to be reminded that loving our children well means not only instilling our values, educating them, and protecting them, but it also means nurturing them along their pathway, not ours. It means speaking into existence what you see in their life, from their gifts and passions. And it certainly does not mean comparing them with other people's children. Unfortunately, that is rampant. And extremely dangerous for our children.
“Self‐awareness includes identifying and living out our own family values, not the proverbial Joneses'. People usually have principles,” Buddy continued, “but life, as I said, gets busy, we live life in hurry mode, and we need to be reminded.”
“I can certainly understand ‘hurry mode,'” Jon said.
“I know,” Buddy laughed. “It would seem that hurry is one of your core values today!”
Jon smiled, too. “To be honest, hurry seems like it's a core value of mine every day.”
“So, you need ...
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