Today I thought I would switch things up. This is something I’ve wanted to write about for awhile, and since I wasn’t racing, I felt like it would be a good time.

Unlike most of my posts, this one isn’t going to be about fitness or a race. It’s actually going to be about an experience I had at a race that changed my thought process. I’m not gonna go all “Dr Phil” on you, just wanted to share a little something more personal, and maybe reveal a little of my own flaws. Hopefully by reading this, you will find it beneficial in your life too.

Assumptions and Judgements. We make them all the time, every day. In fact I would say part of our everyday life depends on it. It helps us to avoid bad situations, and make decisions on who we should or shouldn’t deal with, especially in a professional environment. Assumptions and Judgements aren’t bad by themselves, but if we are unable to look past or around them, we may be limiting ourselves.

I know a good amount of people involved in the OCR community. I have had multiple interactions with some of them, and a lot of them I would consider my good friends.

But there are some people who for one reason or another I have distanced myself from. Maybe it’s because I see the way they handle themselves in public or online, and their behavior for one reason or another is just not something I want to be associated with. It’s not speaking ill of that person, but sometimes there are conflicts or interactions that I felt weren’t in my best interests to engage with.

One person I knew I had made a judgement about very early on. I had a small interaction with them and based on that I made an assumption on them as a person, and felt the need to distance myself. I felt this person was “fake” and I didn’t want to be a part of that. This person reminded me a lot of a person I had been friends with many years ago, and that friendship had come back to burn me numerous times. So I didn’t want to make that mistake again.

The ironic thing is that my interaction with this person was barely anything. It was a small blip. But from that I extracted this huge assumption and moved on as if that was enough of a reason.

Fast forward to this year. As things go, I somehow found myself in a totally unplanned interaction with this person. It kinda just came about and was unavoidable. There was a group of us, and 1 person mentioned my name, and then this person happened to almost jump up saying “Hey yeah I know him, I see his stuff all around. You’re doing some great things. I love reading your posts, keep it up!”

To say I was floored would be a complete understatement. I didn’t even really know what to say. I remember saying “thanks” but that was about it. The group conversation kinda continued on, I don’t think anyone noticed my reaction to that comment.

Actually ended up having an interaction with this person several days later, and again nothing but positivity. My whole assumption couldn’t have been more wrong.

Only reason I felt the need to talk about this is because I think sometimes we may unintentionally limit some awesome opportunities just because of a previous assumption. Every interaction we have every day could be the start of something new. Most days a lot of jobs or careers may be made in just the smallest chance meeting. Even if it’s not a job, you don’t know when something good might come your way. By limiting the avenues for you to receive that good news, or limiting the people you interact with, you may be preventing a great opportunity from coming your way.

We’ve all heard things from other people like: “That person is this or that” But the person telling you this, where are they getting that info? Is it from a one-time encounter, or a whisper down the alley type conversation where the message at the end is now totally different? I’m not saying you shouldn’t listen to people who you think have your best interests at heart. But maybe also take the time to form your own opinion.

This got kinda long winded, but I hope I was able to give a clear message. Hope you enjoyed reading this, I would love to hear your comments! Thanks as always for the support! 🤡👍🏽👍🏽