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Do not engage.

A friend of mine wrote on her Twitter that "do not engage" applied to many areas of her life, and she said it like it was a bad thing, but I honestly think that it might be some of the best wisdom I've heard in a while. Another very smart friend of mine also recently pointed out to me that sometimes not doing anything is about the best thing I can do.

You see, someone told me on Friday that I am high strung. Really, me? High strung. Nah. This actually struck me as funny because I'm pretty sure it's a fact that everyone already knows. I think it goes along with how hard I push people and why my expectations are so high. I have similar expectations for myself, and I push myself even harder than anyone else. If that's what it means to be high strung, I guess I'm okay with that.

However, sometimes it means that I push myself to make progress faster than I should. Stopping, not pushing myself to do something before I'm ready might be a really smart move. So in the past week, "do not engage" has been my mantra. It's actually working surprisingly well. I have avoided getting into a major argument with someone. I have not gone on a date with someone who I probably should't have anyway. I did not ask someone really uncomfortable questions in an inappropriate setting. I am, by default, an engager. I dive right in, almost every time. This "do not engage" thing might be a handy piece of wisdom to hold onto.

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