We Cant Handle the Truth

We Cant Handle the Truth found via Pinterest With his blog entitled All Groan Up, Paul Angone and I were bound to cross paths. While we joked that we were gonna team up superhero-style (him: Batman, me: Batwoman), wellit might still happen. But til then, enjoy his guest post! Warning: its gonna get you off your butt. Have you ever realized you’re great at telling everybody the truth, but yourself? You put others under a powerful NASA microscope and yet when you take a good hard look at you, it’s from atop the Goodyear Blimp. Yep, that’s me. I can spot that blemish on someone’s face, that character flaw that’s holding her back, or that outfit that makes him look a little like Shamu after eating a school of krill â€" but when it comes to myself, I tend to plead complete ignorance. I’m struck with this realization time and time again and yet just keep on ignoring this fact. (For obvious reasons…) DO WE HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THIS? Why is it so easy to point out the foibles in others and yet when we look at ourselves we’re like the naive mother who’s son has never done wrong? Maybe it’s because we don’t want to end our illusion with reality? We’d rather immerse ourselves in a life-long Game of Pretend than realize what we need to change and how we need to grow. Of course YOU don’t struggle with this. No, of course not. How dare I even make such an ASS-inine assumption. But if I may ask a few questions… Last week, did you ever think (and obsess!) about the numerous flaws in your co-workers and boss? He’s so damn cocky. No wonder why she doesn’t get promoted, she’s a train just trying to get in a wreck! Did you point out all the short-comings in your spouse, brother, boyfriend, father, and then proceed to tell them how they need to change. Instead of first thinking the problem was with all the THEM’S, did you ever first wonder if maybe the problem maybe is with YOU? WE NEED TO CHANGE Because really, it’s probably not our boss holding us back, or teacher, father, or spouse. Nope. Most likely it’s us. And as long as we keep blaming the somebody else’s, there will ALWAYS be a scapegoat that’s outward, when we should be looking in. Self-reflection is not easy. Change is not an exciting tickle-fest. I know I keep striving for that cruise control speed and want to curse anyone out who makes me step on the brakes. But I’m realizing more and more that I have to change. As Professor Robert Quinn writes: “Change is hell. Yet not to change, to stay on the path of slow death, is also hell. The difference is that the hell of deep change is the hero’s journey…The hero finds strength, power, vitality, and energy in change” ~ Deep Change LOOK IN THE MIRROR Maybe it’s time we look in the mirror and start plucking? Like the girl sporting the Tom Selleck mustache or the guy with the never-ending unibrow. Just because we want to pretend that no one can see all our flaws, doesn’t mean they don’t exist. I’d rather venture down the hard path of change than the long, drawn out path of slow death. Because honestly, the most inconvenient truths are the ones we won’t tell ourselves. Paul Angone is the host of AllGroanUp.com â€" for those in between Growing and Grown. His debut book Are You My Life?: Searching for Self, Faith, and a Freaking Job!, hits bookstores Spring 2012. Find Paul Twitterized @PaulAngone.