Can Vulnerability Fail?

The other day I drove back from Barcelona to Bigues i Riells, our mountainous home village, 35 km in the north of Barcelona. My fiancée Rose was sitting next to me. As I was driving along the two-lane highway C-17, suddenly a four-wheeler passed us on the right lane… Beep, beep!!

Did you cross the line?, Rose snapped at me.

Of course not! Why is it always MY fault? Why do you never blame the others?

Five kilometers later. Our untamed horses strolled back into the stable, peacefully.

A couple of days passed.

For many years, I could keep my feet out of the maze of interior temptation. But the four Swedish letters somehow know how to hunt me down again and again. Back to IKEA! This time for a big wardrobe.

Back at home. The electric screwdriver of our friend Juan helps. At one point, the unavoidable happens. Something goes wrong. My inner voice screams, This is impossible! You did everything right. This is IKEA’s fault!

Moments later I realized that it had been my mistake.

I see a pattern here. Every time something goes wrong, my first reaction is to blame others. The honking car, IKEA, my partner Rose, … And almost always, in the end, it is my fault.

Knowing myself can hurt. And it hurts. But a big step to cure is self-awareness. Next time I’m about to blame others, I promise to take a moment, take a deep breath, and ask myself: How could this be my responsibility?

My dear leaders amongst my readers, do you face similar situations in life? Don’t you know that your teams love you like crazy when you acknowledge your mistakes instead of blaming others? Vulnerability can never fail.

And you know what? I think I did cross that line… on C-17.