The people we idolize when we are young have a formative impact on us and shape us in many ways that we don’t always realize at the time. Many of us may still hold those childhood role models in a venerated place. Even as adults we often look around and select people whom we’d like to be like or strive to emulate. As we grow and mature the issue we are often faced with is discovering that our idols are flawed beings. We are forced to wrestle with the people they actually are versus the idolized person that we had imagined in our minds.
It doesn’t matter who your idols are or where they come from, the impact of being fallible humans is always going to present itself. I could detail many stories about controversies with various religious leaders and several sports figures. Many sometimes struggle to respond to their public without falling down on the job as a role model. My guess is that no matter how prepared and disciplined your parents were, they too had their moments when they fell off the pedestal you may have placed them on.
“If men[and women] could only know each other, they would neither idolize or hate.”
Mr. Hubbard captures an important point. We all have people we look up to, but make sure you know the real person. You may not have the wherewithal to do this when you’re young, but as an adult consider taking on the pilgrimage of learning about your childhood idols. Learn who they really are(were) and then after acquiring this new knowledge make a conscious decision to keep them or find a new role model.
This is just a glimpse, and I ask you to explore this idea more fully in my book Discover Your Best Life. You can have the life you want, and exploring the word Idolize along with the other 47 I-Words, will move you to consider new areas of your life. We take a deep dive into each of the I-Words three times throughout the book. You will explore these and many other ideas while embarking on the journey to Discover Your Best Life. Watch out for future posts that explore the other I-Words.
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