I’ve had a major shift in my perception the last year. A friend of mine from my mastermind group shared a quote with me that has been bouncing around in my head ever since. I have shared it here and shared it with friends and go back to it often.
It has changed my life as much as The Man In The Arena quote by Theodore Roosevelt.
“Do not depend on the hope of results. You may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no result at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the results, but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself. You gradually struggle less and less for an idea and more and more for specific people. In the end, it is the reality of personal relationship that saves everything.” -Thomas Merton
His words have taken me through a journey of letting go of my expectations in a relationship to simply investing in one.
More recently the words ring in my head as I set boundaries, decline invitations to toxic situations, stand up for what is right, and work to level up my life.
If you always strive to keep your side of every relationship intact, healthy, and on the high road, you start to remove a lot of regret, shame, and guilt out of your life and you begin to feel a lot more unity, peace, and love, even in situations where you were angry and hurt.
“It is the reality of personal relationship that saves everything.”
It’s a big statement to make, but it’s proving to be true.