What Others Might Think
Here is a quick question: why can you ask a bunch of 5-year-olds to raise their hand if they would like to sing in front of the room? Or lead the Pledge of Allegiance? Or read their story out loud? Every hand in the room will go up.
Fast forward about 8 years later when they are in junior high school and ask the same question. No hands go up. What changed? They became worried about what others might think.
Will I mess up? What if someone makes fun of me? What if I see my friends giggling in the back during my song? The easy response? Sit on the sideline to avoid possible criticism.
First of all, I plead guilty myself. I have done talks in front of audiences exceeding 3,000 and did the same talk in front of a dozen close friends just a few weeks later. Guess which one I was most anxious about? You are right. The close friends since I was more worried about what they might think. I couldn’t care less what thousands of strangers thought. Talk about irony.
There is an old Chinese proverb that a trip of a thousand miles starts with the first step. We all procrastinate, back out, hesitate, overanalyze and put things on the back burner. Why? Because we are worried about what others might think.
Fifteen years ago, I stepped out of my comfort zone and made a commitment to write a book. My goal was to complete it by the end of the year so it could be bought as a Christmas gift or reading material in the outhouse. Since I can’t stand New York, I am proud to announce that “Hang in There Like Hair in a Biscuit” has NOT made the New York Times best seller list. By the way, I have two more books I hope to finish by Christmas. One is a sports novel about the recruiting saga of a young man that changed a family, school and community. The other one is a collection of some of the most popular blogs entitled “Where the Red Clay Stains.”
Why bring this up? Because, like many of you, I am at the age that I still care about what others think but not to the point of keeping me from trying to reach new goals. I now just laugh at the naysayers who parrot: “it ain’t gonna work.” They might be right but I would rather tell them later they were correct instead of mumbling to myself: shoulda, woulda, coulda.
What if some of these individuals never changed because they were worried about what others might think? I am sure they got ridiculed but stayed the course anyway.
In 1971, the University of Alabama was coming off consecutive 6 win seasons and there were mumblings of Paul Bryant being too old to coach football. He visited with Darrell Royal of Texas and secretly installed a new offense, the wishbone. Bama went on to win 124 games in the next 12 years including 3 national championships. What if he worried about what others might think?
Thirty years ago, Jimmy King accepted a call and challenge to start a trail ride to raise funds for St. Jude. Jimmy didn’t worry about what others might think. After that first year, my good friend Dr. Jimmy Gardiner stepped up and offered his farm for the three-day event in July. The volunteers and warriors at St. Jude are certainly glad that he wasn’t worried about what others might think. I firmly believe that he constantly thinks of ways to make the weekend bigger and better. Winners don’t worry about what others think.
Percy Sledge grew up in Leighton, picking cotton and working as an orderly in the old Colbert County Hospital. He never turned down an opportunity to sing even in the halls of the hospital. He scored an audition with producer Quin Ivy which led to his 1966 hit “When a Man Loves a Woman.” The gold record is considered one of the top songs of all time. What if Percy had worried about what others thought instead of putting his heart and soul into his music?
Artists of all kinds are usually their worst critic. Their drawings and paintings never seem to be good enough in their eyes. To me, the very best artist I have ever known is from Leighton and graduated from Colbert County High School. Her name is Julia Gray. I’m not a qualified art critic with the tendency to look down my nose at paintings. I DO know quality work and that describes Julia’s work. Her recent painting of Jimmy King that hangs in the Leighton Museum at Bank Independent is awe-inspiring.
What if years ago, Julia worried about what others thought of her work and put her brushes down? There is a long list of “would-be” artists who never pursued their trade, simply because a friend, family member, stranger or teacher discouraged them to the point of feeling inferior.
What if Elvis gave up because there was no demand for rockabilly music? Or the Beatles kept their music in Liverpool? Or George Strait listened to the critics telling him his Texas music was out of style? Or Willie Nelson worried about what others thought when he started the outlaw music genre?
It’s easy to stay in our comfort zone simply because it IS more comfortable.
Nothing big was ever accomplished this way.
Regardless what others might think.