Are you a Thermostat or a Thermometer? March 14, 2017 – Posted in: Blog, Lifestyle

We moved into a country home late last year right before the first frost hit. I’m not made to be a city gal. Space to breathe is what I crave. I admit though I do miss the suburbs and the little conveniences (like a 6 AM milk run that is only 5 minutes round trip…including the shopping.)

Our ‘new’ home is actually old, but not ancient. We rescued it from neglect. Big house, older owner, too much to take care of for one person. My family and I spent every free moment helping to clear the place out. Separating things for donation from stuff that needed to hit the dumpster. It was still summer and then fall while the work was being done.

I watched on in anxious admiration as slowly, imperceptibly, the house started to take on new life. I spent hours visualizing the botanical garden that will replace overgrown shrubs and prickly weeds that make up what used to be the front garden.

The move has been a long time coming. Years in fact. Still, nothing prepared us for the months of work we had to do ahead of time in order to move in. The property is breathtaking and well worth the effort. But there were days I winced at the discovery of something else that was in a massive state of disrepair.

So many things, large and small, needed to be repaired or replaced. A repeat offender was these little knobby thermostats that are in every room in the house. See, this place was built without forced air. We do not have a furnace or a central air conditioning unit. We survive the chilly Ohio winters on log fires and radiant heat. Each room has its own thermostat. Its own environmental control. Set the thermostat and you set your environment.

Take a walk outside and it’s a different story. There’s nothing you can do about the temperature but read it with a thermometer. A thermometer reacts to the environment. Other forces at work in nature determine the temperature. Indoors you can set the thermostat and choose your environment. Outside it is nature’s game. You don’t have any control over it.

This is so true in real life. Now, stick with me here. I’m about to take this even a step further.

You are your own thermostat. Those around you bring their own struggles, joys, gossip, battles, successes, and failures with them. Everyone has their own ‘temperature’. What you need to decide when you’re around people, be it friends, family, acquaintances or strangers is this – Will you be a thermostat or a thermometer?

What the heck does this mean?

We’ve already discussed that a thermostat controls the environment. We know that a thermometer reacts to the environment. It reads the current situation. The feedback a thermometer gives mirrors what’s going on around it.

So what do you want to be? Do you want to be the person who sets your own environment or the person that reacts to it? When you are around other people wherever you may be at the moment, ask yourself this question. Make a mental note of how you typically respond. Is that how you want to respond?

The Thermostat personality sets the mood and temperament and ignores all the other ‘noise’ that goes on around them. The Thermometer personality only responds to the ‘noise’ around it with the exact same ‘noise’.

A Thermometer is for fitting in, not for standing out. If fitting in and following the crowd isn’t your thing, then I encourage you to break free from it. Rise up. Stand Out. Because, guess what, you’re a Thermostat.