I post a poem and someone contests it.
I write a blog and there’s opposition.
I share a thought and I encounter disagreement.
So… what to do?
There used to be a powerful, anxious tendency to defend what I put out there with everything I have.
To fight my battles, to win the debates.
Over and over again.
But that seems so ridiculously trivial right now.
And it’s a choice.
Not inherently good or bad.
A choice with consequences, though, so an interesting and important one.
There’s the short term satisfaction of winning the discussion, slapping a person in the face with a big ole bag of arguments.
There’s the idea of safety when how you feel about life is successfully defended and enhanced.
There’s even the idea that making your point will make the world a better place.
Well, maybe, sure.
Not inherently good or bad.
But I’ve kinda lost interest in this part of the dance.
People can totally have the win, take away the first prize, feel like they’ve dominated me with their ideas and knowledge.
I don’t care.
They can have it all.
Oh, the lightness of that.
The freedom.
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(Photo by @alwig64, for Unsplash)