A 2014 Challenge

Earlier this morning, a friend of mine posted an article on Facebook via HuffPost about what NOT to say to a working mom. I see posts like this all the time and, frankly, I'm annoyed by it.

We need to get over ourselves.

We need to relieve ourselves of our guilt.

The reason, in my opinion, we take offense to people saying things like "can't you afford to stay home?" is because we're feeling insecure about something. Be it money, time not spent with our kids, or our personal drive to WANT to work - we get offended over someone else and their mouth.

We seriously need to get over our egos, too.

We just need to not give a shit. Seriously. 

What does it serve us to get so angry about someone's idiocy? People don't aim to be hurtful, so why do we let them get to us? We get all riled up, we let the negativity fester, and then we POP! What does this do? Does it make us a better parent? Does it make us a better person? You can answer those questions yourself.

The same goes for people at work.

A few weeks ago, I did something stupid at work and I aimed to apologize for my idiocy. Still, someone got upset and I feel as though I'm being watched.

We're human. We make mistakes. We do stupid things and we often do them to other people - although usually not intentionally. Rather than confronting the person who harmed us, we take it a step higher. We go to their boss, their boss' boss...etc. We get offended, sometimes without reason. Then we talk. We talk about that person. We label that person who wronged us. Sometimes we set out to destroy them because they hurt us.

For what? Our ego? To heal our wounds?

We need to get over ourselves.

This is my challenge to you in 2014 - stop caring so much about what other people say and do (or write). Don't let their words get to you and, if they do, confront them. Ask them why they chose to say or do what they did. That is my challenge to you.