Your You and Someone Else’s You
If you’re anything like me you don’t feel very interesting. You feel like… you. Normal every day you. Your you is the one that washes dishes, walks the dog and sits on boring conference calls.
The funny thing is, there is a you that exists outside of yourself. It isn’t your you, it’s someone else’s you. And while your version might feel small and powerless, what someone else sees in you from the outside is bigger, bolder and walks around fearlessly.
Which one is really you? Truth lays with the observer.
Have you ever looked at a friend who was saying not-so-nice things about themselves and thought, OMG, why are you being ridiculous? You’re smart and funny. You have interesting points of view. Not to mention, you’re beautiful and fascinating in your movement throughout the world. And you make me see things in ways I never thought of. I’ve learned so many things I never even knew I wanted to know from you. You make me happy.
Well? Chances are, people think those things about you, too.
Be nice to yourself today. Take a minute to observe your own greatness.
Wise words from a great person — rider, mother, adventurer, spouse, dreamer, blogger, thinker, comedian, more…
And that’s only part of you.
You are smart, funny, inspiring, beautiful, awesome, interesting and so much more…and I’m just observing by reading. 🙂
Rachael, you are right, and I agree with Steve, yet I feel that the very greatest evil in this world, and all lesser versions of it, way down to folks who are merely indifferent to the plight of their fellows, stems from self-centred selfishness.
So I may take a brief moment to see myself as you suggest, but no more.
There are people who are very demanding of themselves and sensitive to other people, and then there people who are self-centered and care very little for others. For people who are sensitive and hard on themselves, Rachel’s advice is applicable and needed to help them move ahead and be the powerful leaders they need to be.
Hey? How did you know what I think of you? Get out of my head!
You are great, feel your greatness, become one with the greatness. Now be even greater and be a guest on my show and you will be great globally.
Well said! I do have a working facade that I need to wear 5 days a week. But the Real Me comes out on weekends, holidays and extended vacation days.
And THAT is when I really become the Real Me. I don’t shave, I ride my motorbike to fun places, meet new, exciting people and really LIVE.
And I always smile when I see someone else’s REAL someone else. It usually slips out during regular conversation, like so:
“I can deliver those reports later today. I work over on Front St. and park at the motorcycle parking area.”
“What?!?! You ride a bike?”
And their fake facade comes right off. What a wonderful thing it is.
When we travel to places new to us and share our delight with the locals, we offer them a rare gift: a chance to see anew, through a stranger’s eyes, what might have become ordinary to them over time–their hometown, their remarkable surroundings. I suspect that we’ve all been on both sides of this situation: the stranger in awe, and the local with eyes renewed.
If only–if only–we could experience such an exchange with respect to personalities. From our early teens at least we’ve all wondered more than once how we are perceived by those around us, strangers and friends. Sure, we can ask, but that smacks of insecurity and of junior high school all over again. Besides, how much could we–would we–believe the reply? For words are unstable and variable things, and how they are understood and used by others another shaky layer. (Shit, it’s a wonder we get anything done, are able to communicate at all, using this language crap.)
To me (and I doubt this is unique), the smartest, funniest, and most interesting and fascinating folks are those that are really as interested and fully present and fully engaged as they can be: The smartest are the most curious; the most interesting and fascinating are those most interested in and fascinated by the world around them; and the most engaging are those most eager to hear the thoughts, opinions, and stories of others.
It’s the sponge people, Fuzzy… It’s the sponge people, ready and eager to absorb the life around them, that are most interesting to me. Hey, sponge people, come up with a better name for yourselves! “Sponge people” just sounds creepy and weird, like some mid-century horror flick: Attack of the Sponge People or Revenge of the Sponge People or The Sponge People Return (I think we’ve got a franchise here).