Thinking for Myself

List the people you admire and look to for advice…

I’ve written before about how I admire my husband and the advice he gives, simply because he knows me so well and loves me enough to care about what he tells me.

However, aside from him, it’s hard to list people that I both admire AND look to for advice. Because honestly, I only trust my husband for advice. When I’m at work, there are certainly people that I consider my go-to when I have a question and need help, but that’s to be expected.

There are people that I admire, but many of them I don’t personally know so I can’t also go to them for advice. Unless it’s gleaning wisdom from something they’ve said in a movie or an interview or on some other platform. There are authors that I admire and have been profoundly impacted by books they’ve written. Can’t really ask them for advice though either.

My bubble is small. I don’t have a lot of people that are close to me that I could list in this category of admiration and advice-seeking. Aside from my husband, I could probably put my oldest sister on the list. My former administrative assistant, turned friend, could be on there too. She gave me a LOT of advice as I struggled through my last year at the school where we worked. And I do admire her deep commitment and belief in our shared Catholic faith.

I also can’t forget about the psychiatrist who changed my life. Saved it really. I admired him and whatever advice he gave me during my appointments was gospel in my mind as well as my husband’s. We had complete and total faith in his ability to treat me.

While my list is short, I think that’s o.k. I imagine getting advice from too many sources can get confusing. I suppose it also depends on what you’re seeking advice on. Though, now that I think about it, I don’t need advice as much now as I have in the recent past. And when I need advice, I am much more likely now to think things through myself before seeking help. I think that’s part of my healing journey. Trusting myself to make decisions. Challenging what people say to me and not just blindly accepting everything. Basically, thinking for myself. I do sometimes just want to be told what to do, making decisions can be tiring after a while, but again, that’s o.k. Developing my own thoughts and opinions and sticking to them is important for me now. I will always still turn to my husband with them, but I’m really liking the fact that I do that simply because I trust him and love him and not because I truly can’t figure something out myself.