If You Don’t Figure It Out Now, You’ll Hate Yourself Later
In life, we may find ourself bewildered by seemingly familiar social situations where we act, yet our actions do not yield expected results. The first step towards making sense of a situation like this one is to figure out what role we play in the given scenario.
Shakespeare Called It
It was the character Jaques, in the play ‘As You Like It’, that uttered the words: “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts.”
In a lifetime, a person does play many parts. However, there is no single stage. On the micro level, our life is comprised of several stages that mirror the various aspects of our lives. We perform on the stage of our work place, religious / spiritual house, family, and community. On each of these stages, we are called to play major and minor roles.
Out of Sync With Reality
Knowing that our lives mirror a stage and our actions a performance does not necessarily prepare us to carry out a spectacular recital. The quality of our performance is a function of our preparation, timing, and positioning. Suffice it to say, knowing our role, our role in relation to others, and executing our role is paramount. Not knowing these things, it is easy to become confused. Unlike a theatrical performance, we are born into a situation. We are thrust into situations. Sometimes we are good with a situation and we somehow lose the plot. We lose or never establish connections with others; we lose our timing; we forget the theme; we misread our partners. The actions we take do not yield the anticipated results. When this disorientation occurs, how do we get the production back on track?
Get Your Bearings
The first step is to get your bearings. Determine the role you are playing in a given scenario! In real life, the roles are four-fold. There are:
- Those who know what’s going on (insiders)
- Those who are told what’s going on (in the network), and
- Those who are left to figure things out. (The people who are unable to figure things out compose the last group…)
- Those that are lost (the outsiders)!
Whether on a job, in a relationship, in a religious setting, or within a family, the process of centering oneself is the same. Never stereotype a situation. Don’t guess. Ask questions. Find out what people are doing (mission), where they see themselves going (vision), and what they value. Then, figure out how best to contribute to that situation.
What do you think?
