not shooting myself in the foot

"Why did this happen to me?" Have you ever had someone say that to you and had the knee-jerk reaction to reply, "Because you keep making such foolish choices?" or "Because you keep doing the same thing and expecting things to be magically different?" or "Because you haven't learned to take a moment to think before you act or speak?"

I have had honest, caring people say these to me in my life at times I needed to hear it (note I did not say I wanted to hear it). The more valid the point, the more painful it was to hear.

One thing that has been a blessing was when I realized I was often my own worst enemy,

• choosing friends because I wanted to be liked rather than because they would lift me up and were willing to let me lift them up too,
• walking so close to the edge of danger that it was Grace alone that kept me balanced while sanity returned,
• doing what I darn well wanted to even though I identified it as foolish and unlikely to have a good outcome.

That is what I think about when I read: Strengthen your drooping hands and weak knees! Make straight paths for your feet so that if any part is lame, it will be healed rather than injured more seriously.* Therefore:

• I choose to seek the counsel of someone who will challenge me to do the better thing rather than seeking someone who will feed my ego and my sense of personal victimhood.
• I choose to cultivate as my friends and colleagues people with a reputation for ethics and kindness.
• I choose to find something worthwhile and constructive to do when I'm bored before I indulge in things that have lead to problems for me in the past.
• I will take the path that is less likely to result in shooting myself in my own foot.

* Hebrews 12:12-13 (CEB)