I consider myself a lucky girl from the South Bronx who had great mentors. Those mentorships helped me strive and thrive. I try, have tried, to pay that forward. I like passing on knowledge and coaching people to their full potential both at work and personal life.
I also look to other people to see what are best practices and how I myself can continue to improve.
This is all great and good. Here is where I will take slight turn. There are also those people who are helpful despite their worst intentions. What do I mean? Sometimes what people teach us is who we don’t want to be. And, that lesson is just as valuable and should be heeded.
Categories: childhood, Culture, identity, mental health, Psychology, society
psychologistmimi 
Exactly so, learning can be expressed as what I want to experience or what I don’t want to experience. Learning rises either way. Great post.
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Astute observation – and true!
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My biggest learning in this very department is how NOT to be ‘that author.’
The one who never fails to mention their book.
The one who brags about EACH review.
The one who will not shut up once the topic of writing has been introduced.
The one who complains, in public forums, about a reviewer who did it ‘wrong.’
The one who tells each and every person that their book is for everyone.
The one who has so many misspellings in a comment about why they aren’t selling that you are tempted to tell them it must obviously not be any good.
The one who is clueless about being a writing PROFESSIONAL.
The one who thinks their first book is the best book ever.
The one whose book has every possible formatting mistake you can think of.
The list is quite long; add your own ‘that author’ irritations. Then don’t do them if you’re an author!
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I sometimes encounter motorists on the road who demonstrate to me exactly how one should not drive.
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