Indeed, the world needs you to get uncomfortable with being a mouse. We may not realize it, but most (probably all) of us start as a mouse. Some stay a mouse all their lives while others choose to go beyond that.
We were definitely not fashioned to be a mouse! It's just a starting point. We just have to realize what we love to do while we're here on Earth and then do it. And we will evolve from a mouse to something greater. As long as we aren't doing what we love, what we truly love, we won't go past the mouse phase.
You are so right, Kenny. I didn't think of the fact that most start out as mouse. Back to the issue of the environment we grow/stay in. What is clear is that however or whenever we slip into being a mouse, it's a serious devaluation of our capabilities and potential to remain or regress to being one. Thanks for your great insight. Food for thought for me.
Glad you found my comment of use, Tomi. Your post offered some insights for me as well.
I think some become "bad" cats because they are sick and tired of just being a mouse and don't know they have other choices. I think there are "bad" cats and good ones. I choose to be a good cat because I don't want to hurt others or belittle them in any way. I understand that others, unfortunately, make the jump from being a mouse directly to being a "bad" cat because they mistakenly think that's the only way to "survive" the world around them. You don't need to belittle anyone. You just need to stand your ground and show other "bad" cats they will get hurt if they mess with you. It's difficult to stand up for yourself but it's so rewarding.
Like you said, many people will shrink themselves into a mouse just so they survive or/and fit in. They don't want to stand out, they just want to live a normal existence (which is quite fine up to a certain point). I think the proverb is not saying not to live a simple, "boring" life. No. What it's saying is don't live a life where you hide your true self just for the sake of fitting in. Don't let others bully you around. Be yourself and stand up for what you are and believe in while also hearing and accepting others around you. Just my 2 cents.
Sadly all of us in specific moments become mouses, sometimes we have not enough self-confident not to be a mouse. I am definitly not a mouse person but what i am saying that it might be an individual reaction in a situation.
As a mom, i think we are reponsible for raising mouse or cat persons, i do not like both personalities so i am trying to raise my girls to be confident and have the power to live without this mouse-cat proverb 😅
i like you wrote a step by step strategy for change.
do you think a cat person will like to change?
This paraghragh was very sad 🥺👇🏻
No human becomes a mouse because it’s fun. Often, we shrink to a mouse to survive or stay sane. We do it to avoid pain, to toe the line, to avoid outshining another, and to keep difficult people comfortable and their emotions contained.
Hi Fidaa, you're right that we can become a situational mouse. I can see that happening in instances of power imbalance. Should that happen and whichever cat we're with wants to exploit the situation and prey, may we gain the strength of this New York mouse to refuse to be eaten: https://youtu.be/dDfaQ-NUeLM
Not sure that every cat person would like to change. Some enjoy being that way for different reasons. We can only work on ourselves to stay safe and avoid getting eaten by them. Or being a mouse in the first place.
Keep up the good work with raising your girls to be confident. The world needs people to be confident in the contributions they were born to make.
I was a mouse for most of my life. I got so used to being caught and released by cats around me that it felt normal. At some point I had just given up on even wanting to be anything else. I just took things as they were: I would always be a mouse and couldn't do much about it. Cats would prey on me mostly emotionally. Some cats need to talk down to others around them just so they can feel better about themselves.
Took me some time to realize this. I also realized that no one, and I mean NO ONE, is stopping me from becoming anything else than a mouse. It's MY CHOICE. And one day, I made the choice of becoming something else. I didn't want to become a cat and "hurt" others. But I also didn't want to be a mouse anymore.
I became me, a person that stands up for herself and doesn't take abuse of any kind from anyone. At first, this massive change was very difficult for me and cats around were baffled. I wouldn't just lay down and take it anymore, I would fight back, sometimes very hard. Soon, most cats didn't even want to be around me. And that was just fine with me. The point is: we can choose, at any time, to be more than just a mouse.
Wow, you just outlined how the ARC can play out. So glad that you made the change. So glad that you share freely about how a mouse can push through the challenges of transitioning to the confident version of being a valuable contributor to the world. Yep, it's Assess, Reset, and Change (ARC) all the way! Thanks for sharing.
"Give yourself permission to embrace being of value to the world, because you are." - I love this. It made me cry. It's so easy to forget that we are special, that we matter. In this speedy world, where we rush from home to work, from work to shopping and then home again and it seems and feels like there's never enough time to do it all - in this world, it's sometimes hard to realize you can just stop. You can stop the rush and take it slow. Stop and think of what you really want to do with your time here. If you realize you want to be a writer, why are you wasting your time being an accountant? If you love music why aren't you practicing it and being a policeman instead? I think the world needs more people to come alive, to realize that life doesn't have to feel awful and a struggle. WE make it so! And we can make it something beautiful. Something that feels fulfilling for us.
I have a few violent "cats" in my life. They're family members or coworkers and they've been scaring me emotionally for years now. It's just recently that I got enough of it and started taking measures to end it. I'm not talking to a few family members anymore (for the time being) until or if they change their tone with me. I told them what was bothering me and that I expect to be treated like a human being and not something beneath that. If they can't do it, then I don't want to be around them anymore. The same goes for coworkers. It wasn't me, it was them. I've stopped talking to a few of them, who are just mean to me and others around them. I hang out with people that appreciate me and make me feel good. And my life is much better for it.
Indeed, the world needs you to get uncomfortable with being a mouse. We may not realize it, but most (probably all) of us start as a mouse. Some stay a mouse all their lives while others choose to go beyond that.
We were definitely not fashioned to be a mouse! It's just a starting point. We just have to realize what we love to do while we're here on Earth and then do it. And we will evolve from a mouse to something greater. As long as we aren't doing what we love, what we truly love, we won't go past the mouse phase.
You are so right, Kenny. I didn't think of the fact that most start out as mouse. Back to the issue of the environment we grow/stay in. What is clear is that however or whenever we slip into being a mouse, it's a serious devaluation of our capabilities and potential to remain or regress to being one. Thanks for your great insight. Food for thought for me.
Glad you found my comment of use, Tomi. Your post offered some insights for me as well.
I think some become "bad" cats because they are sick and tired of just being a mouse and don't know they have other choices. I think there are "bad" cats and good ones. I choose to be a good cat because I don't want to hurt others or belittle them in any way. I understand that others, unfortunately, make the jump from being a mouse directly to being a "bad" cat because they mistakenly think that's the only way to "survive" the world around them. You don't need to belittle anyone. You just need to stand your ground and show other "bad" cats they will get hurt if they mess with you. It's difficult to stand up for yourself but it's so rewarding.
Like you said, many people will shrink themselves into a mouse just so they survive or/and fit in. They don't want to stand out, they just want to live a normal existence (which is quite fine up to a certain point). I think the proverb is not saying not to live a simple, "boring" life. No. What it's saying is don't live a life where you hide your true self just for the sake of fitting in. Don't let others bully you around. Be yourself and stand up for what you are and believe in while also hearing and accepting others around you. Just my 2 cents.
And your "2 cents" bears its weight in gold. No hiding. No shrinking. No being or acting less than, however tempting or seemingly safe.
Sadly all of us in specific moments become mouses, sometimes we have not enough self-confident not to be a mouse. I am definitly not a mouse person but what i am saying that it might be an individual reaction in a situation.
As a mom, i think we are reponsible for raising mouse or cat persons, i do not like both personalities so i am trying to raise my girls to be confident and have the power to live without this mouse-cat proverb 😅
i like you wrote a step by step strategy for change.
do you think a cat person will like to change?
This paraghragh was very sad 🥺👇🏻
No human becomes a mouse because it’s fun. Often, we shrink to a mouse to survive or stay sane. We do it to avoid pain, to toe the line, to avoid outshining another, and to keep difficult people comfortable and their emotions contained.
Hi Fidaa, you're right that we can become a situational mouse. I can see that happening in instances of power imbalance. Should that happen and whichever cat we're with wants to exploit the situation and prey, may we gain the strength of this New York mouse to refuse to be eaten: https://youtu.be/dDfaQ-NUeLM
Not sure that every cat person would like to change. Some enjoy being that way for different reasons. We can only work on ourselves to stay safe and avoid getting eaten by them. Or being a mouse in the first place.
Keep up the good work with raising your girls to be confident. The world needs people to be confident in the contributions they were born to make.
Assess, reset and change. Great motivation!
Yep, the ARC of transition from being a mouse!
Potent warning for the discerning.
I think so too. Reflecting on the words sobered me up in several ways.
I was a mouse for most of my life. I got so used to being caught and released by cats around me that it felt normal. At some point I had just given up on even wanting to be anything else. I just took things as they were: I would always be a mouse and couldn't do much about it. Cats would prey on me mostly emotionally. Some cats need to talk down to others around them just so they can feel better about themselves.
Took me some time to realize this. I also realized that no one, and I mean NO ONE, is stopping me from becoming anything else than a mouse. It's MY CHOICE. And one day, I made the choice of becoming something else. I didn't want to become a cat and "hurt" others. But I also didn't want to be a mouse anymore.
I became me, a person that stands up for herself and doesn't take abuse of any kind from anyone. At first, this massive change was very difficult for me and cats around were baffled. I wouldn't just lay down and take it anymore, I would fight back, sometimes very hard. Soon, most cats didn't even want to be around me. And that was just fine with me. The point is: we can choose, at any time, to be more than just a mouse.
Wow, you just outlined how the ARC can play out. So glad that you made the change. So glad that you share freely about how a mouse can push through the challenges of transitioning to the confident version of being a valuable contributor to the world. Yep, it's Assess, Reset, and Change (ARC) all the way! Thanks for sharing.
"Give yourself permission to embrace being of value to the world, because you are." - I love this. It made me cry. It's so easy to forget that we are special, that we matter. In this speedy world, where we rush from home to work, from work to shopping and then home again and it seems and feels like there's never enough time to do it all - in this world, it's sometimes hard to realize you can just stop. You can stop the rush and take it slow. Stop and think of what you really want to do with your time here. If you realize you want to be a writer, why are you wasting your time being an accountant? If you love music why aren't you practicing it and being a policeman instead? I think the world needs more people to come alive, to realize that life doesn't have to feel awful and a struggle. WE make it so! And we can make it something beautiful. Something that feels fulfilling for us.
I have a few violent "cats" in my life. They're family members or coworkers and they've been scaring me emotionally for years now. It's just recently that I got enough of it and started taking measures to end it. I'm not talking to a few family members anymore (for the time being) until or if they change their tone with me. I told them what was bothering me and that I expect to be treated like a human being and not something beneath that. If they can't do it, then I don't want to be around them anymore. The same goes for coworkers. It wasn't me, it was them. I've stopped talking to a few of them, who are just mean to me and others around them. I hang out with people that appreciate me and make me feel good. And my life is much better for it.