Admitting When We’re Wrong
One of the hardest things that we can do in life is to admit that we’re wrong.
Many of the discussions and arguments that we find ourselves in life can be directly attributed to our ego.
No-one likes to admit that they’re wrong.
I recently had an argument with a close friend of mine…
To prove my understanding of a topic I forgot the very reasoning behind why we have discussions.
The ability to have conversations and talk is a blessing and it’s one of our greatest tools of learning.
During this debate, I was so eager to get my own words out and demonstrate how smart I was that I didn’t listen.
The old adage that we have 2 ears and only 1 mouth so we should listen twice as much as we should speak ran true.
Having the ability to learn is an on-going process. We must be open and put in the effort but we also have to be brave.
We have to be willing to enter discussions with the understanding that we might be wrong.
It’s an on-going battle between our ego and our inquisitive desire to learn.
As I argued with my friend, the discussion became less and less about the topic at hand and more and more a battle of wills as we both refused to back down.
I began listening to respond, instead of listening to understand…
We have such an opportunity to learn from others, however we also have the opportunity to push those closest away from us if we don’t enter into these discussions with the right mindset.
It’s the mark of an educated mind to entertain a thought without accepting it.
I didn’t win the argument…
No-one wins arguments
Both sides lose and are left bitter at the other party.
I learnt from this that we don’t always have to have the right answer -
It’s okay to admit that we don’t know it all, we can simply have discussions for the sake of learning.
No-one likes someone who thinks they know it all.
Who’s so rigid within their mindset that they’re not willing to open up their thought process.
It’s been my life-long goal to approach every situation with an open-mind and it’s a humbling experience to see where I need to continue to learn but that’s part of the journey that makes life interesting.
Always learning & always trying to be better than the man in the mirror was yesterday.
I know that I’m not where I want to be yet, but I’m on the hunt for the person I’ve not yet become.
I’ve learnt that there’s never a bad-time to shut up.
If we’re never able to admit that we’re wrong we will never grow.
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