How do you know when you are making the right choice in either your personal or professional life? It's not always clear in many situations what the right choice actually is. Things get complicated when the right choice appears to be a moving target and the various choice elements keep changing, sometimes very quickly and sometimes seemingly in slow motion. There is often a thin line between making a good choice and a disastrous one.
This ongoing dilemma reminds me of the parable of the frog in a pot of water. You've all heard some version of this precautionary tale. The essence of the frog in a pot of water story is that when you put a frog in a pot of boiling water, the frog will immediately jump out. The frog's natural instinct for self- or frog-preservation kicks in and the frog is out of there in a micro-second. However, if you put this very same metaphorical frog in a pot of cool water and gradually raise the temperature of the water, the frog will stay in the pot and soon boil to death.
Thin lines are everywhere. There's a thin line between being good and being not so good, also known as being bad. There's a thin line between being a team player and being stupid. There's a thin line between being generous and being naive. There's a thin line between being creative and being unethical. There's a thin line between being funny and being irritating. There's a thin line between being honest and being mean. There’s a thin line between affectionate teasing and sadism. There's a thin line between giving to others through a place of kindness and giving through a place of ego or self-importance.
Thin lines are everywhere. They represent both our life challenges and our opportunities for growth. Sometimes thin lines are obvious and sometimes they are less obvious or seem completely hidden. Sometimes they sneak up on us very slowly, similar to the water temperature slowly being raised in the frog story; sometimes they hit us at warp speed.
What are some of the thin lines in your life?
Janet
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