Whether we like it or not, our lives are always under the authority of someone else. When you are born you have your parents. As you grow older it is teachers, grandparents, coaches, professors, managers, police officers and the list goes on. We can never truly escape having authority over us. I know many struggle against authority and argue that they could escape the authority in their life. I would argue that the fight should not be about escaping authority but being able to handle the right authority and knowing when to welcome it into our lives.
We need authority in our lives, who is yours?
I say that we need authority in our life, we need a higher power than ourselves. Without our parents creating clear rules and boundaries in our life as young people we can get pretty messed up later on. We need to learn how to handle authority, how to be ok with someone else being in authority over us…even when they may not be as smart as we want them to be. Sometimes we can have a teacher or manager in our life that may not always do the right thing or may not do the job as well as you think you can. It’s ok, you can still allow them to have authority over you and work alongside them and even help guide them to be better at what they do even from under their authority.
Learning lessons through life is much harder if there is no authority over you
When a child throws a temper tantrum when told to do something they do not want to do or when their told no it’s not a pleasant thing to witness. The lesson is necessary to help that child learn boundaries and decide what is important in life. Crying and flopping on the floor like a fish over not getting a piece of candy is not that important and with the proper consequences in place, they quickly learn that.
Do you get angry when anyone disagrees with you?
When the proper consequences aren’t enforced they do not learn that lesson and often grow up with a chip on their shoulder for anyone that disagrees with them or tells them no. When they don’t get their way they often get angry and take it out on anyone around them. They are usually not pleasant people to be around or work with and we all know at least one person like this. They have not learned to handle having someone with authority over them and they do not make good students or employees.
Having an authority over you does not make you less powerful
Hopefully you can see how this is a very important skill to learn in our lives. You do not have to like the person in authority over you or even be their friend. You just have to be ok with them having authority over you in the areas they have authority. As you go through life, different people have authority over different areas of your life and we need to be ok with that. It doesn’t make you any less important or any less of a man or woman or even any less independent! Those are all lies that many of us believe and it short circuits our success in life.
Even the highest placed person has an authority over them
Even a CEO of a huge corporation has someone with authority over them. When you work with the person in authority over you instead of against them you will find things get easier. Instead of fighting with your boss over their ideas, work alongside them to create a better idea if it’s possible. If it’s not, then work towards their idea and be ok with it! Assuming no one is going to be hurt and it’s not an immoral idea there is nothing wrong with achieving someone else’s plan. IF your manager is such a bad person that you cannot fathom working alongside them or showing them any form of respect then it is definitely time to move on from there and go look for a different working environment where you can really thrive.
Change your perspective on authority, it might just help you out
Most of the time people are in authority over you for good reason and they can usually help you through your life in some way or another. If you are not willing to give them a chance then find somewhere you can be more comfortable and where the authority above you will work. Sometimes we need to make a change in our environment if we cant change the people around us. Just try it and see what happens when you let there be an authority in your life.
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