You can fix only yourself

My wife had a rough weekend between battling some anxiety, hours of class, and a newly broken phone. Not exactly a hard life, but stressful none-the-less and her anxiety in particular is quite exhausting on her.

And then there’s me, Mr. Fix-It. In fact, I’m a doctor because I love fixing people so she gets it twice as bad. And as she is acting shut down and not wanting to talk or even look at me this morning as I’m getting ready for work – I get a bit butt hurt. I start to feel sorry for myself that she won’t open up to me so we can fix this and move on.

Ironically, as an introvert, I prefer to just have some alone time to sort the messes I create. And here I was not allowing her to have the same amount of space. I sit here shaking my head.

See, dear listener, it’s not up to us to fix anyone but ourselves. We can offer people space, love, and attention, but as far as fixing goes. You are not a savior! You are not their only hope! You can’t fix your kids even as a parent. You can’t fix your spouse even though you’re married. You can’t fix your employees by yelling or your boss by “making it obvious”. Hell, I can’t even fix my patients. They have to do that themselves!

We can only lead by example and offer our support. I can offer advice, but again – IT’S UP TO THEM.

So, stop wasting time and energy and furthermore, stop avoiding the work YOU NEED to fix YOURSELF!