Imitate Me as I Imitate Christ

There are some things in the Bible that just seem to stick out to me more than others. And as I continue on this journey of living for Jesus, these things sometimes change along the way. But one of the statements in scripture that has stuck with me for a long time is the Apostle Paul saying, "Imitate me as I imitate Christ." 1 Corinthians 11:1
My struggle with this has been that it seemed this instruction of Paul's took people's focus off of Jesus and on to Paul. That he was saying, don't imitate Jesus and look to Him as your example, but look to me, Paul, instead.
This is just not true. What I have come to understand is that Paul was all about leading people into a relationship with God through Jesus. He was also about Christ followers being good examples to others.
I realize I had the wrong picture of this verse in my head. I had an image of Paul walking down a path and others following behind him in a single file line formation. That Paul looked to Christ and followed Him as others fell in and followed Paul.
That is not Paul's intention at all.
The mind picture I now have, is Paul walking side by side, hand in hand with others down this path. Encouraging each other in the right way to go. Helping each other figure out just what it means to be a Christ follower. And being willing to let anyone join in the journey and follow Christ with them. All the while, each individual keeps their eyes on Jesus as the model of what their life is supposed to be like.
So I think Paul was encouraging us as Christ followers to be good examples so that if someone needs a hand in figuring out how to follow Christ, we can come alongside them in their journey and help them along the way. We don't have people walk behind us, but walk beside us.