We Don’t Have to Agree About Me

In my 40s (I’m 42, thanks for asking) I woke up to a story I was telling myself that was causing me a lot of drama.

The mindset goes something like this “We need to agree about me.”

Or, loosely translated, “You need to believe about me what I believe about me, or I’m not going to be able to believe about me what I want to believe about me.”

Here are a few everyday examples.

• “I’m hungry,” I say. “Why?” my husband asks, “You just ate.”

• “I thought you were a professor?” they ask, when I tell them I’m a coach. (Note: I’m both, but that kind of “and” is confusing for people)

• “I am a pretty strong person. I can take a lot, but this quarantine is dragging me down.” This is met with a skeptical look.

In each of these examples, I would go on the offensive, defending my point of view and forcing the issues until the (usually very surprised) other agrees, “Ok, yes, I agree that you are hungry, a coach, and strong.”

Why did it matter whether the other person agreed with me about me? Why did I need a consensus opinion on who I was and how I felt, when the only person it ever actually affected was me?

Hang with me, we’re going back in time

I’m sure you’ll be shocked to hear it, but I can rub some people the wrong way.

I insist on things when others would prefer that I let them go.

I feel sad things and happy things and unjust things with an intensity that takes some people aback.

Plus, I was poor and smart when the world would have much preferred that I be resourced and stupid. I was “too much,” “not enough,” and SENSITIVE.

In the hopes that I could learn to “pass” as acceptable, I created unflinching standards for myself and then ruthlessly policed myself to ensure that those standards were upheld. I lived that way all through college and into my first master’s program (which I entered immediately after college).

At that time, I realized that I didn’t AT ALL want to be in graduate school… and was horrified to find myself halfway down a path that was super “reasonable” and totally wrong for me.

I got up the courage and walked away, freeing myself a little bit.

I spent my 20s realizing that it was my hyper-rigid expectations, and not the small transgressions, that were the real problem. And then I spent the majority of my 30s figuring out who I could grow into if I just let myself believe.

And I grew and grew and grew: I became a triathlete, a writer, good at math, forgiving, and creative. All things I had denied myself because they didn’t fit the mold I was crammed into.

I realized along the way that I, AND YOU, can be whatever we want if we get started, accept failure, and pay attention to our mindsets.

LITERALLY, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.

I’ve been singing that song for a decade now, and I believe it more every day.

And yet, I entered my 40s carrying this vestige of that earlier way of being; even though I believed in myself and all that I was capable of, I still needed for us to agree about my potential, my nature, and my intentions.

And when we didn’t agree, I felt kind of threatened.

I worried, in an existential way, that I wasn’t “doing it right.”

Then, one day, my husband and I had a little disagreement.

I was saying, in my dramatic way, that “I never wanted to do research again*.”

He looked surprised and reminded me that I LOVED research. I loved research so much that I went through 7 years of extra school to be anointed as one who could do research of her own.

I felt myself rise up, ready to argue with him about how reasonable and right I was to feel this way, to want this break, to intend this turnaround… and then, I felt utterly fed up.

Now, just to be clear, I was not fed up with him. He’s worth his weight in gold exactly because he can see me clearly when I’m in the middle of being carried away by my thoughts.

No, I was utterly and completely fed up with myself.

Why did it matter whether he agreed with me about me?

It didn’t. <–That’s literally every emphasis available in this program, that’s how huge this insight felt.

I’m the only person in the world who has to agree with me about:

• What I’m likely to do.

• How I feel about something.

• Whether I like something.

• What I think about something.

• What my intentions are.

• Who I am.

The weight of the world lifted from my shoulders.

I can think and do and be who I want, even if he (the most important person in my world) didn’t understand.

Even if he didn’t think it was a good idea.

Even if it was totally contrary to who I’ve been up until now.

EVEN IF IT MAKES NO SENSE.

I was free.

I offer this story to you as an encouragement, in case you need it. We are living in very tight quarters right now and our disagreements and misunderstandings about each other might very well be center stage.

Some of those need to be examined and talked through, for sure.

But for many of them, I’m wondering if you could just decide that no one has to agree with you about you.

• You are strong if you say you are strong.

• You are creative if you say you are creative.

• You are a business-minded person if you say you are a business-minded person.

• You are a leader if you say you are a leader.

It doesn’t matter what they think! It doesn’t matter if they NEVER agree with you.

What becomes possible when you stop waiting for others to agree?