The Downside of Real People
I meet more fake people than I do real people. Let me explain. I interact mainly with Christians (not too proud of this, but it's true). And I have come to discover that in general, Christians are not very good at being vulnerable. I think it’s mainly because we have so many expectations for perfection and fail to understand the real gospel (but that is another post). As a result of fear of rejection, we put on a front and hide the real us.
This morning I was thinking about real people. By real I mean:
Honest
Non-pretentious
Authentic
Vulnerable
Non-secretive
What you see is who they are
Secure in their imperfection
They can be so refreshing to be around. But as wonderful as that is, they are some other less pleasant realities of real people. They are often…
REALly messy when they share their issues openly
REALly disruptive to the status quo
REALly wound your pride when they tell the truth
REALly difficult to work with
REALly annoying when they say things you'd rather stay covered up
REALly threatening to power seeking leaders
REALly unable to go with the flow without questioning things
REALly not a fit in places where shit is supposed to stay hidden or where you aren’t even allowed to say the word “shit”, much less talk about it.
Real people are rare and precious….and I think it’s partly because most of us don’t know how to handle them. We’ve never learned how to.
Soon I will post 5 tips for responding to people that make us cringe.