Rebuilder Series: “That Guy Syndrome” – The Intensely Honest Look at Personal Growth. By Marshall Lestz

“That Guy Syndrome” – The Intensely Honest Look at Personal Growth

Good Morning Everybody,

We all have a, “That Guy,” in our lives. You know, you walk into a party and you see him and say, “Uch, that guy.” Or you turn down an aisle in the grocery store and…”No, not that guy.” 

It’s the dreaded: “That Guy Syndrome.” That one person who really rubs us the wrong way, or who we had a falling out with, or who never stops talking or is just really cold or mean or brash or does whatever that thing is you can’t stand…. We can’t help but think how much smoother our lives would be if “that guy” would just go bye-bye. Move to another planet or something.

But guess what… we’ll always have a “that guy” in our lives. Because “that guy”….is Hashem’s Guy! He’s like Hashem’s special agent. Hashem puts him or her into our lives to help us work on patience, or judging favorably, or not speaking lashon hara, or seeing the good in people, or being kind when it’s difficult, or being more assertive, or bitachon, or working on not rolling our eyes… 

Hashem says, “That guy” is “Your Guy! I chose him or her just for you! You’re welcome!” And we’re like, “You’re welcome??! Huh?! You’re really not doing me any favors Hashem.” And Hashem says, “YES I AM! I’m doing you big favors. In fact, doing favors is kinda My thing; it’s one of my My specialties! And “that guy” is a special favor I whipped up just for you. I want you to use as much of the awesome potential I endowed you with! And “that guy” is here to help you do that!” 

Well, this is an idea that’s much easier to accept intellectually than emotionally. But we can do it. We can go from seeing “That guy” as a nemesis, to “That guy“ as a nemesis with benefits! And in time, we can hopefully let go of the “nemesis” part of that description altogether.

Let’s challenge ourselves– between now and Tisha B’av– when we run into that difficult person in our life, instead of thinking, “That Guy”, let’s think:, “That Guy… who Hashemcustom-made just for me”, or “That Guy… who’s motivating me to do what I thought was impossible”, or “That Guy who is helping me discover how magnificent I can be.”

May we continue on the path of seeing the challenging people in our lives as G-d given opportunities for tremendous growth. So much so, that one day we can actually go from thinking about such a person as, “That guy,” to “That guy, my friend.”

Have a meaningful day everybody!

Marshall
Keep on Building!