Stories, Standards and a Point to Prove

Why do we buy or lease a car? As a mode of transportation? As a status symbol? As a statement about our style? To express our taste? Or a statement about how much we believe in the brand.

Why do we buy a house? As an investment? As a safe place to live in? As a statement to our family and friends? As an expression of personal taste and style?

We do different things in our lives for different reasons. Sometimes it’s due to the standards we have, the behaviours we repeatedly choose.

These behaviours are built upon expectations you have of yourself in a variety of situations. They are, in some respect, performance standards. In other words, they lay down the benchmarks of performance for your life.

Sometimes we make decisions just to prove a point to people around us. Our egos get the better of us. We live in a society where you have to prove everything.

Proving yourself to others is a feeling that comes from obsessing over what others think about you. Feeling like you have something to prove is a sign that you’re not secure enough in your own identity and find too much validation in other people’s approval.

Most people are too consumed by their own problems to think too much about your successes, our haters are no exception.

Sometimes, it takes trying and realizing that other people’s validation of you is not all that. Just because we’ve proved ourselves doesn’t mean other people receive it well. Most people are too consumed by their own problems to think too much about your successes, our haters are no exception. Chances are that someone you’re trying to impress isn’t thinking as much about you.

The moment I realised that most adults are really just winging it, I really stopped thinking much about what others thought about me, because chances are, they haven’t got their lives figured out as well. Irrespective of their age or experience.

In what I call my short life, I have had the opportunity to meet executives, founding pastors, founders of large organisations, and a lot of people I really didn’t feel worthy to meet, and I realised everyone is still figuring out this thing called life. No one has lived before, we’re all here doing this thing called life for the first time. We will make mistakes, but we must never let those mistakes make us stop our journey and hide from making progress.

The honest truth is this, you are good enough. Maybe you’ve made mistakes in the past, but I tell you, you’re a lot worse off thinking you have to prove yourself by any form of accomplishment. Life is too short to spend time trying to do something just for someone else. Do what you believe is your purpose. As you do it, remember we’d have to defend what we’ve done in front of our Maker someday. Don’t spend your days trying to please another person.

Write your own story. Set your standards and only live a life that seeks to please God.