Listen

The best advice I can give to anyone who is married or has someone they love in life is...listen. I have learned my lesson on listen. Some people will jump up and down, holler, send you smoke signals, take you to the waters edge and beg you to drink, but you still don't listen. All I have to say is LISTEN! If you have someone in your life that has taken that much time and effort to help you then the least you could do is listen. It has recently been pointed out to me that I was this such person. Many times I have been lead to the waters edge only to deny myself a fulfilling drink of understanding and humility from the fountain of life. My loved ones staged an intervention, broke down in tears, and pleaded with me to change my ways and have a better outlook on life. Again my teflon coating would not let anything stick. Up until the other day I really had no clue to the extent of damage that I had thrust upon my loved ones. Seeing tears stream down my wife's face made me feel ashamed, inadequate, undeserving and humbled to no end. I have shed more tears in the last few days than I have in the 12 years we have been married. Just one time if I would have listened then I would not be writing this post. There is only so many times that a person will fool with you. Eventually they will wash their hands of you, no matter how much they love you. The process to reconciliation will be long and hard. The effort in my case is well worth it. But you have to make the case to your loved ones that you are worth the effort. That they are not setting themselves up to be hurt or betrayed again. You have to awake like Scrooge on Christmas morning with a new lease on life ready to take on the world and beaming with excitement for a new beginning. Then and only then will things start to change. In the end it is better to LISTEN!!