My Daily Reflections: On Being the Bigger Person

photo by Sunil Patel

As I read this quote I had an ahha moment.  

The admonishment to, ‘be the bigger person'  has been the messaging that has controlled so much of my life.

I have come to realize that in being told to be the ‘bigger person’ what I was actually being told to do was to overlook bad behaviour, make excuses for the other person’s bad behaviour, and in the process to accept disrespect from others.  

The underlying message was that if I was unhappy about being disrespected it was because I was at fault for not being a “big enough” person to overlook their disrespect.   I was the problem, not those who were disrespectful.

This quote I find validating, because it puts on the table to be examined, the fact that I have to be bigger because they are smaller.  It is not that I am not being 'big enough', but rather, that they are small.  The fault is not mine it is theirs.  

And that of course begs the question, why do I let these ‘small people’ control so much of my mind space?  What do I have to prove?  And why should I have to prove myself in the first place?

When I read this quote, I feel freedom, freedom from needing to prove to anyone that I am a better person by accepting disrespect!   Really!   What a bunch of hogwash I have believed!   

If the only way I can be a better person is by accepting disrespectful abusive behaviour and words from others; then I have to question; is that the kind of better person I want to be?

I want to be a better person because of what I do not because of what I overlook.

I want to be active in the process of doing better not passive in the ability to overlook more!

So I will be giving less mental space to the ‘little people’ who want me to overlook their unkindness and will thus have more mental energy / space to give towards being a better version of myself to the ‘big people’ in my life.

Renate Dundys Marrello 

2023 – 01 – 05

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