Unprompted Advice

WOW... did I get a reminder that I need to practice what I preach last night! I've always resented getting unprompted advice from people. It all stems back to being a child and learning to play golf on my own. I read a lot, took a few lessons along the way, and slowly got better. Well, I'd play along side adults who felt it was their obligation to pass on sage advice to the kid. "Keep your head down" or "Extend your left arm" or some other hot tip they just read in the same magazine I did. What especially fried my ass was that this was coming from people who had never seen me play before in their lives. How can they know my swing after 30 minutes? And who the hell asked for their advice in the first place? Geez, I was already hitting the ball better than they were. Ever since then, I've always resisted the temptation to try and "help" anyone on the golf course. If they ask, I'll watch for a while and try and pick up on something that may help. I don't volunteer golf advice and don't want it either.

Fast forward to last night. "Elsie" got in touch with me for the first time in over a week. Needless to say I was thrilled she hadn't forgotten me and chose to contact me on her own. (There is a little spring in my step today that's been missing... but I'm trying not to go overboard). Anyway, this was a really nice chat... detailing how busy she's been, sorry it's been so long, some laughing, some flirting, etc. At one point she offered a piece of advice... unprompted. Not wanting to ruin the mood, I deftly chose to change the subject and continued on while my mind churned. "Who is she to give that kind of advice? How does she know what's best for me? How dare she?" I was a little fired up. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. Rewind the clock and over a week ago I was doing exactly the same thing with her (as detailed here). What must she have been thinking on her side then? Probably the same things I was last night. I felt like such a heel. I had become the annoying golf partner. That was a wake-up call.

My mind has begun to become less clouded lately... a feeling fellow depression suffers fully understand. I probably wouldn't have noticed (or cared) a week ago. I can and will do better on this!