I’ve noticed a similar pattern in my own personality, but I’ve also questioned at times whether it’s healthy to be so devoted to someone else’s priorities. With different friends who were higher-status than me, I’ve framed our dynamic in terms of Quixote/Sancho: there was the crazy knight who boldly marched towards trouble, and the little sensible voice trying to ground him in reality. Maybe what this says is that I don’t choose my heroes too well.
I was chief editor at my office for one year and I concluded that there’s not one fibre of leader material in me. Life got much better when I returned to being a regular editor. After reading this post, I also realize that I find it more fulfilling to get appreciation from my boss than to get appreciation from my coworkers.
So, what should aspiring sidekicks do? Should we openly seek for someone to support and push toward greatness? (I can’t imagine many scenarios of that working well.) Should LW set up a network of heroes looking for sidekicks? We need to remember that not all hero/sidekick relationships are ideal. There’s Frodo/Sam, but there’s also Brain/Pinky, or Hit Girl/Kick-Ass (yes, that’s the right order).
there was the crazy knight who boldly marched towards trouble, and the little sensible voice trying to ground him in reality
This is largely tangential, but it’s also worth contemplating the extent to which Sancho both enables Quixote’s world (as distinct from Quijana’s) and prefers it.
I’ve noticed a similar pattern in my own personality, but I’ve also questioned at times whether it’s healthy to be so devoted to someone else’s priorities. With different friends who were higher-status than me, I’ve framed our dynamic in terms of Quixote/Sancho: there was the crazy knight who boldly marched towards trouble, and the little sensible voice trying to ground him in reality. Maybe what this says is that I don’t choose my heroes too well.
I was chief editor at my office for one year and I concluded that there’s not one fibre of leader material in me. Life got much better when I returned to being a regular editor. After reading this post, I also realize that I find it more fulfilling to get appreciation from my boss than to get appreciation from my coworkers.
So, what should aspiring sidekicks do? Should we openly seek for someone to support and push toward greatness? (I can’t imagine many scenarios of that working well.) Should LW set up a network of heroes looking for sidekicks? We need to remember that not all hero/sidekick relationships are ideal. There’s Frodo/Sam, but there’s also Brain/Pinky, or Hit Girl/Kick-Ass (yes, that’s the right order).
This is largely tangential, but it’s also worth contemplating the extent to which Sancho both enables Quixote’s world (as distinct from Quijana’s) and prefers it.