I heard on the public television self-help program that in order to make yourself a better person, you should surround yourself with better people. Playing a game of tennis with a better player will make you a better player because of the challenge.
But how does that work, exactly? How do you go about finding people who are better than you? And wouldn't they want to surround themselves with people who are better than them and not muck around in the dirt with slothful trolls?
There's an unbalanced equation there which is making my head hurt.
In other news of recent imponderables, I took a large group of relatives to a local tea house. We stuffed ourselves with sandwiches, salads, tea, lemonade, and bread puddings. And when they came back to my house, one of them said, "Ugh. I'm so full. Would it be possible to ask you for some tea?"
Joking?
Serious?
Ended up making her tea, and she enjoyed it immensely.
5 comments:
And how do you know if they're better than you? You might just have a bad self-image, and you'll bring yourself down slumming.
I can ALWAYS drink more tea, btw.
Ah, hanging with people who are better at sports than you is a good idea. Afterall, you'll beat them sometime and you'll feel grand.
As for anything else, I would just be pissy. I'm a nice person but I have enough bugging me on a daily basis without having to go into a funk because the neighbors went 'Martha Stewart' with their Christmas decorations this year.
I know I compare myself to others too much and I normally don't fair well in the comparison so I try to stop that kind of thinking.
CindyS (I think I got all serious on your butt!)
Oh, I forgot! Bob and I go to a tea house called The White House up here in Canada and we go strictly for their scones and devonshire cream. Yum. Oh and I don't drink tea so I have a coke with my scone ;)
That's triggered a fragment of a memory. My mum used to have a red hardbacked book, with, I think, white writing on it. It included all sorts of advice on how to be a better woman: for instance, if you've lots of tasks to do, start them all at once, because if you've the vacuum cleaner out, the cake ingredients half-mixed etc., it'll be easier to finish the jobs than not. And to keep her weight under control, the author just didn't eat for one day a week - if my memory is accurate she spent Mondays in bed, not eating. And she enthusiastically recommended wig ownership, to cope with those awkward days between hairdresser's appointments.
Anyway, the author's theory was every woman needed at least six friends - one richer, one poorer, one prettier, one not, one cleverer, one - I'm sure she put this tactfully - stupider.
[I can't just have made this up, can I?] I'm imagining the idea was that if you woke up hating yourself, you could - provided it wasn't a Monday - pop on your wig, and go have coffee with penniless, frumpy and stupid, and trip home afterwards counting your blessings...
Wow. Better than you. Sounds just like flipping middle school, climbing the ladder of self improvement by making the Right Friends.
On the other hand everyone in the universe does something better than everyone else. Whine better. Make better potato salad. Train dogs better. So you're really home safe with this one.
Megan and Cindy: I'm pretty sure I don't need to get started on a long round of comparing myself to others. It couldn't help my self-esteem much.
Marianne: I want this book! A friend of mine, when she was pregnant, was given the Better Homes and Gardens Pregnancy book her mother had used when she was pregnant. It advised reducing your alcohol consumption to only one martini a day. Hee Hee. (And I would look terrible in a wig. I am already forehead challenged--bring that hariline down any further and my eyebrows need to be styled.)
Kate: There is a whole Middle School feeling to this which is disturbing.
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