Humility in Never Say Never

Yesterday, while I was running errands, I was listening to Think Radio on KERA. The show was called “Two of a Kind,” and it was a discussion of creative collaboration and brilliant partnerings. The guest was the author of a book called “Powers of Two.”

The show ended with the host asking the author what a person can do to be a great partner. Now, the show was not about romantic relationships, but about the power of synergy in a creative pair to bring about magic in whatever field they are working, be it science or music or whatever. But the author’s answer struck me. It was simply this: humility. He went on to say with regard to humility that partnerships will grow us and expand us and challenge us in the most fundamental way, and that to be able to tolerate those challenges and have a lot of space in your heart for the other person is key to greatness. Earlier in the show he stated that in any partnership there is an enormous amount of surrender required, and he circled back on that here.

I had to look up the word humility and study its nuances. Because there are lots of things like this that I have to look up and study and roll around in my brain for days, even years (Boundaries? Why would a person want BOUNDARIES?! Authenticity? What are you even talking about right now?!). Because I felt confused about the intersection of humility and self-esteem. Can these two things even exist in the same space? Of course, they can, but how?

Gosh, why am I even sharing this with you? Because I am trying to figure out how to be the best partner that I can be. Because I am deeply interested in what my role and responsibility is with regard to the things that work or don’t work between me and the BF. Because finding humility in a fog of fear and misunderstanding could be our downfall. And because I’d love to have a conversation about humility with you. Rather than my therapist.