Are You a Holy Terror?
I see it more than I like. Perhaps it is because I have spent a great deal of my time in healthcare. Caring people who get into some kind of enlightening experience or new activity are excited and are so quick to tell their family, their friends and their colleagues how much they need their new passion too.
A dedicated work team member attends a conference, or maybe some religious experience watches a dynamic movie or reads a great book. Then too, it could be that they have found exercises such as jogging, a new sports activity, or even a taken up a hobby, perhaps they have become a shutterbug extolling their new digital camera.
Because they are caring people and are well intended they want others to experience their growth, their recovery, their enlightenment, and their new found joy. Colleagues that were once calm and friendly are now zealots. They are now pests and often go on the attack like an angry Canadian Goose when you get too close to her nest.
“You need to come along with me.” “You must hear him.” “Hey, read this.” “Why aren’t you doing something?” Oh, when they ask “why” it automatically puts one in a defensive position. These well-intended souls in their heart of hearts mean no harm. They “know” what they are doing is for another individual’s own good. It is OK they think to badger, pester, persuade, beg, admonish, chastise, intimidate and even threaten you to take their appropriate action.
What these motivated advocates need to do is back off. Relax. Chill. Of course, they can still care, still, engage in their new activity, and apply what they have learned from their seminar or what they read. Just give colleagues a break and allow some breathing room. Lighten up. Newly knowledgeable individuals need to understand that their best intentions will go down in defeat if they try to force others to follow their new path.
It is said best and succinctly by Benjamin Franklin, “A good Example is the best Sermon.”
