I believe in blind spots and multiple forms of intelligence. However, what scares me more than anything is that there may be an area of my life that could use some improvements but I don't know. This is where accountability can useful because we all have blind spots.
In the past, I often confused accountability with judgment. Judgment is criticism with either ill intentions or no constructive feedback while accountability is simply someone showing you where your blind spot is. People who care about you will hold you accountable and if they don't they are doing you a disservice.
While it's quite natural for most of us to run from accountability, secure people don't run from it but embrace it. Secure people relish at the idea of being able to improve further rather than rejecting constructive criticism or denying the need for it.
If I'm honest I'm not the best at texting people or calling people regularly and it's an area of growth that really needs some tending to in my life.
I have a bad habit of telling people I'll call them back in a couple days only to find myself realizing a week or two weeks later I've failed to keep my word. And while it is important for me to remain focused and invested in seeing my goals through to the end it's just as important to water the relationships in my life.
I think what I dislike the most about "hey stranger" texts is the guilt that I feel. I, like most people, will react with the trite phrase "phones work both ways" because it allows me to flee from accountability. While phones do work both ways so do relationships. By me reacting this way I was not paying attention to the fact that someone was acknowledging how I might have been modeling toxic behavior.
People don't want to feel like they are the only one doing the heavy labor or lifting to make a relationship work. Business, school, or any extra-curricular activity isn't really a good enough excuse to go without talking to the people you love because you're talking to someone in that time. The only difference is that you're talking to people who you see in passing or are easy to speak to and not taking the initiative to make the relationship work.
And while this is not the only area of my life that requires a tune-up every now and then I'm forever grateful that someone took the time to point out my blind spot to me rather than leaving me in the dark.
Plus a Wiseman once said, "Any relationship that could be "ruined" by having a conversation about feelings, standards, or expectations wasn't real anyway, so there isn’t much to ruin."
