Aaron Rodgers emerges from Brett Favre’s shadow. Whose shadow do you live in?

Aaron Rodgers, Super Bowl MVP, played a perfect game last night, leading the Packers to Super Bowl victory.  He had big shoes to fill when Favre left Green Bay, and many wondered if Aaron Rodgers would ever get that Brett Favre monkey off his back. But he did last night. And although the Super Bowl score by quarter looked close…it just never happened for the Steelers.

It pains me to write a post the day after my Steelers lose the Super Bowl, but the best way to overcome pain is to confront it, right?

Last night, Rodgers played perfectly and exploited the mistakes and weaknesses of the Steeler’s offense and defense. It was a perfect game that earned Aaron Rodgers the Super Bowl XLV MVP and his first ring.

With the media talking about how he’s stepped from the shadows of his formidable predecessor, Brett Favre, I thought about the people in my life who cast long shadows. We all, at some point, live in the shadow of another: the unmet expectations of demanding parents, the boss who never gives credit for a job well done, the team star who always shines a little brighter.

Sometime we choose the shadow. We choose to live within that shadow, letting it define us and limit us. Worst of all is when we let the shadow shape who we are. Some of us are so comfortable with the shadow around us, we wouldn’t know what to do if it left.

Many of us live in the shadow of another–someone we think is bigger, better, or more important.

Whose shadow do you live in?

Why are you still living there?

What are you doing to step out of that shadow?