I love Arthur. You know Arthur...from King Of Queens.
He has all these weird quirks, which are hilarious for TV.
One of my faves is actually when
Arthur is being told something random & not really a big deal at all and he yells,
"Don't Tell Me!"
My hubs likes to say that a lot to me and of course I laugh every time.
WE ARE RIGHT or no one is gonna tell us nothin...
or we have a hard time letting it go until someone will admit
or we have a hard time letting it go until someone will admit
"Yes, you're right." or perhaps you can convince them to say "I was wrong."
I'm one of those people that will annoy the heck outta you. I have this obsessive need to
get the facts straight and for other people to do it as well,
and for some reason exaggerated truths or portions of truth BUG me like crazy.
It's one of my weird quirks I guess you could say.
and for some reason exaggerated truths or portions of truth BUG me like crazy.
It's one of my weird quirks I guess you could say.
Grrrrr....Lame right?
Hope I'm not the only freak out there.
Hope I'm not the only freak out there.
Example. Nine years ago, when my sister had her baby on May 3,
her due date was on May 16th...
her due date was on May 16th...
She kept telling people that he was 3 weeks early.
Well, me, being the brilliant mathemetician that I am could not handle that.
I mean, in the mind of me, I'm thinking..."Do the math.
He was born 13 days before his due date, which means he wasn't
He was born 13 days before his due date, which means he wasn't
even 2 weeks early. Which means he definitely wasn't 3 weeks early."
She obviously didn't do this on purpose.
She obviously didn't do this on purpose.
But does it really matter? No.
Do I obsess over trying make sure the facts are correct? You know it.
I must have "argued" over this 20 times with her. Yeah, I'm a little dumb like that. Meh.
I must have "argued" over this 20 times with her. Yeah, I'm a little dumb like that. Meh.
I will roll my eyes at you all day long until you make sure you admit
had your facts wrong.
I'm not really sure why I do this, to be honest.
Anyone who knows me well can tell you I'm totally telling on myself right now.
(I like to be real, people. Take it or leave it. xoxo)
Anyone who knows me well can tell you I'm totally telling on myself right now.
(I like to be real, people. Take it or leave it. xoxo)
I really drive myself crazy, because I know what a geek I must come off as to other people,
always trying to correct people. I''m very "Ross" like..
This weird obsession is semi beneficial though when people are gossiping.
I've mentioned this before, but the whole
"I think they think this because someone might have did this..."
"I think they think this because someone might have did this..."
thing drives me bonkers. I'm not even kidding. If you tell me something,
I can guaranteed you that in the back of my mind I am thinking,
"Okay, were you there...or is this just what you think MIGHT have gone down?"
I can guaranteed you that in the back of my mind I am thinking,
"Okay, were you there...or is this just what you think MIGHT have gone down?"
I want FACTS, baby. Show me em'. Then maybe I will believe you. =)
You will rarely catch me exaggerating except when it is to be funny or tell a story
and have people laugh. If I'm discussing something real,
I want to have all my stories straight.
I'm pretty sure I don't do this to prove that I am right, necessarily...
but to prove that everyone else that thinks they are right, are actually may be wrong.
I know, I know. Who cares?
Here is where this weird quirk comes in handy. In a good way.
(It may sound contradictory, but I dont think it really is.)
I am usually more than willing to admit when I, myself, am wrong,
because it bothers me something crazy when other people don't.
because it bothers me something crazy when other people don't.
I always ask God to show me when I am not right in something I do or say,
if an attitude I carry about someone or something is negative or bitter.
if an attitude I carry about someone or something is negative or bitter.
I always want to be teachable. I want to advance in life.
Learn from my mistakes. Admit to faults and being human.
And to say "You know what, I shouldn't have said that, or done that...
or even thought that. And the fact is, I messed up."
And to say "You know what, I shouldn't have said that, or done that...
or even thought that. And the fact is, I messed up."
I was talking to my brother in law the other day about a situation...
and I told him "the thing with us is, we
know
what our screw ups are."
It's not always fun to have people find out about you, or to have admit you have messed up,
but I never want to believe that I am perfect or right all the time, because if I'm perfect,
then perfection is sad. And sorry. And pathetic.
I want to be teachable.
then perfection is sad. And sorry. And pathetic.
I want to be teachable.
I want to always count on God to show me where I can better myself,
where I can fess up to my mistakes and imperfections to help others, to help myself.
(uh, like this post maybe??)
"Teach me Lord, to always be willing to learn, to admit I am not perfect, I'm not always right,
and to realize that no matter who I am, what my background, how much I have studied,
where I went to school, how much I helped people, loved people, loved YOU...
help me remember that I, myself, am still human...
and I will always need you to show me what is next.
and I will always need you to show me what is next.
to admit to myself, to YOU and to others that I messed up,
I am not perfect, and most importantly, that I need a savior."
This doesn't mean I don't strive to please and honor God, daily. Because I do.
But in striving to honor and please God, it means you have to let yourself
learn some tough lessons sometimes. And grow from them.
This doesn't mean I don't strive to please and honor God, daily. Because I do.
But in striving to honor and please God, it means you have to let yourself
learn some tough lessons sometimes. And grow from them.
In what ways can you ask God to help you?
Do you consider yourself teachable?
Are you always willing to learn from your mistakes, perhaps listen to others words?
Or are you like that little kid who holds your hands over your ears,
or like Arthur who doesn't want to hear it and yells "Don't tell me!"
when someone tries to tell you something that you don't want to hear?
That's icky, right?
or like Arthur who doesn't want to hear it and yells "Don't tell me!"
when someone tries to tell you something that you don't want to hear?
That's icky, right?
I can tell you from experience, its not fun having a friend approach me about something that
I know is true, but I do not want to hear.
I know is true, but I do not want to hear.
I've had some moments where I have got extremely hurt and ticked at friends
who have addressed me about things they see in my life (they did it out of love for me).
One time in particular it wasnt until years later where I admitted to her,
"Hey remember that one time you said this?
"Hey remember that one time you said this?
Well, I was offended because you were stepping on my toes. God was convicting me.
But in the end, I took it to heart."
If you are willing enough to swallow your pride for 2 minutes, you can take great strides in life
at simply being a better person, because you allowed yourself to be taught.
And it's always a great thing when you can admit to someone else,
that you "needed to hear that."
Humbling ourselves and letting God teach us through whichever means
he needs to reach us (many times that is through people close to us)
is a first step to high honor in our lives.
Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will exalt you.-James 4:10
The fear of the Lord is the instruction in wisdom, and before honor comes humility.
Proverbs 15:33
Humbling ourselves and letting God teach us through whichever means
he needs to reach us (many times that is through people close to us)
is a first step to high honor in our lives.
Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will exalt you.-James 4:10
The fear of the Lord is the instruction in wisdom, and before honor comes humility.
Proverbs 15:33
4 comments:
Great Post, I'm exactly the same way! Now that I'm a mom I'm really clinging to the fact that God gives us do-overs!!
This post is so true. I am so stubborn and like you, I want to know the facts. There's someone in my life who constantly tells stories, repeats bits of gossip, etc and NEVER ever has their facts straight. My husband and I just shake our heads and ignore it, because it's not worth the energy to argue with this person. Drives me nuts though.
I try to not say anything about people/things if I don't know that I have my facts straight or, if it's something I wouldn't say to their face.
that characteristic indicates a spiritual gifting of "teacher" =) I definitely have these tendencies as well, but I do not like teaching in the traditional sense... do you?
I very much love learning about people's quirks, and you are one of my favorite quirky people!
Julie, i think we're twins. we're not huggers. we're both sassy. and we both need our facts super straight!
i have interrupted my mother telling stories when she tells things wrong. (i'm not proud of that.) when i talk about what people say i like to quote them verbatim (or as close as i can!). it drives me crazy when people aren't straight on their info or don't research it properly.
i remember a friend blogged about something controversial and got basically this angry post written at her in return on a platform she didn't use. i did use it so i took up for her (calmly... at least i hope so). so then the person wrote an angry post at me. i wanted to sit them down and be like, "you have 90% of your facts wrong AND if you would listen for a hot second you would know you're not formulating an argument correctly!" (that's the problem with being an english/history major... your entire degree basically boiled down to how well you could argue logically so now when i read posts or am listening to people all i'm doing is evaluating their argument! haha!)
all that said, i love this post. i definitely think it's hard for anyone to admit they're wrong, but i would agree that those of us who like their facts exact might have an easier time of it, because the fact is, whatever we thought we were correct about is inaccurate, and we were wrong about it. i hope we always have this tendency to be fact-oriented if it means we're constantly evaluating and reorienting ourselves on the same criteria!
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