Noxious or Nourishing? A little about college…

In my second year at Southern Utah University, I had the most amazing roommates. They were all beautiful inside and out. They had different personalities, and they all impacted me in so many ways. I think back on that year with so many wonderful memories. 

I’m the second one from the left. {Sidenote: Man I was skinny! I wish I could go back and tell myself that back then!!} 

I learned a lot about human beings that year. I learned a lot about myself that year particularly. 

I learned that some people HATE when people drink directly out of the water pitcher. {In my family, this was not a big deal.}

I learned that some people don’t like rugs in the kitchen. {Something I had never thought of in. my. life.}

I learned that telling someone to stop “bitching” made them feel bad, even though in my family that just meant they were complaining in my family. But to her it was like I was calling her the B word! Whoopsie. So I was asking her to stop complaining, and she interpreted it much, much worse. 

I learned that some people cleaned A LOT more than I did. I had a roommate deep clean her bathroom every. single. Saturday. 

I learned that some people needed family time more than others. 

I learned that cats give humans ring worm… knowledge I could have lived without.

I learned that Halloween was a big deal to some families. 🙂

I learned that stealing a scarecrow from Applebees was a BIG deal to a roommate with a brother who is a police officer.

Do I have a point? Yes. We are all different. We grew up differently. Our parents raised us different. We may have different faiths, beliefs, and values. We may use different cleaning brands and swear by them. Your toothpaste may not be my toothpaste brand, and your political views may not be my political views. Who cares. 

In grad school,  I happened upon a relationship theory from a Psychologist named Carl Rogers that I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. Rogers believed that people can be categorized into two types: Noxious and Nourishing. Noxious people criticize, are negative, they bring people down and they find fault in just about everything. Nourishing people build others up, they make others feel good, and they are positive and optimistic. 

What type of person are you? What kind of person am I? {I’m asking myself, there’s no need to answer}. I think sometimes it takes a little pause and reflection to make sure we are nourishing and not noxious. Rogers said every person in our lives can be categorized into these two types. What do you think? Is this true? Can every person in our lives be categorized this way? What about you? Are you nourishing in every relationship in your life? Is that even possible? 

My mind is whirling about this topic lately. I’ve seen a lot of negativity lately, particularly on social media. Ya know, people tearing others down and stuff. Arguments about faith, family, and a lot of disrespect for opinions. 

The relationships we have in our lives are the most important asset we can invest in. Are we noxious or nourishing to our family, our friends, our social media friends, our neighbors, our church friends, our non-church friends, strangers at the grocery store, strangers on the road? Are we kind, lift up others, help people out when they need it, and give people the benefit of the doubt? Or do we hop on the bandwagon of tearing down, ripping others to shreds, passing on negativity, criticizing everything and everyone, and pointing fingers of blame for all of the bad in the world?

I’m LDS {a hip Mormon if you will ;)} I’m a member of the LDS church because I have prayed to my Father in Heaven for confirmation for knowlege that the church is true. I am grateful for my faith, and I’m always open if you ever have questions. 

It’s ok if we are different. I love different. My college roommates and I were obviously different. I had a huge pile of laundry {modern art} in my bedroom while the other girls were deep cleaning their bathroom weekly. It’s the nature of life! We can learn more about each other. It makes us better. 

Be nourishing. I’ll be trying to do the same. 

xoxo,

Brooke