THE OTHER SIDE OF ME

by Roy Todd

Ever wonder what it must be like to be on the other side of you? 

While it’s never good to be self obsessed, it’s always wise to be self aware. The latter helps us be considerate to others and is a good way of keeping our ego in check.

Very often, the reason why relationships can be compromised is because of thoughtlessness regarding the consequences of our words and actions. Self obsession tends only to look out for it’s own interests. Self awareness looks out for the interests of those we do life with. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul the apostle encourages us to… ‘Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.’ (Philippians 2:3-4).

So how can we develop better self awareness? Well, one of the most helpful questions all of us can ask ourselves in this regard is this: ‘What is it like to be on the other side of me?‘ It takes real courage to ask a question like this. In other words, what’s it like to be on the receiving end of my quirks, my attitudes, my words, my frustrations, my anger, my practices…the list goes on. The answer to this is incredibly insightful.

It would be good to ask yourself this question regularly. Better still, get a good friend who you trust to give you their answer – and allow them the right to be completely honest & transparent with you. You may be pleasantly surprised at some of their observations. You might also be profoundly shocked at some of them too. But the latter is important.

Truth is…all of us have blind sides which we need help with identifying in our lives. I was recently driving along the outside lane of the M1 when a car in the middle lane suddenly pulled right out in front of me. In that moment, I had the presence of mind to slam the brake on and avoid a collision. Thankfully there was no traffic immediately behind me, otherwise there would have been a smash up. So what was the problem? The driver who drove in front of me hadn’t noticed my car because it was in their blind side. They’d made an assumption that it was going to be ok to just pull out. But assumptions are always dangerous.

So back to the question. ‘What’s it like on the other side of me?’ I dare you to take some steps that will help you address your blind sides. It could revolutionise your life.

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