so continues the series on Joy the Baker. I make notes to myself. How to live. How not to live and how its ok if I burn the cookies.
Short Version: Everyone is as scared as you are. If theyre not, theyre just faking it. Chill.
Long Version: Sometimes you lose myself. It happens more easily than youd like. You enter a situation on your own, and you just dont feel as confident as you should. Its silly, really but its real. Forgetting your confident coat is like running out of the house without your bra on and you really need a bra. Youre over 30. The time for free-form experimentation is long over.
Sometimes its superficial. Youre not wearing the right shoes. The top you chose rides up in the back (wwwhhhyyy!?). You dont accessorize well. Your car is too dirty to valet. Ooooh the list of reasons why youre not good enough and why everyone is cooler, more prepared, and less scared could go on for centuries, leaving you feeling iffy-at-best going into social situations.
Sometimes its brainy. You havent read the correct books, and you dont quote the New Yorker. Youve got a good arsenal of Far Side comics committed to memory, but that doesnt really fuel a political discussion. Wait remember the Far Side where the moose has a bulls-eye tattoo? I think the caption is something like bummer birthmark, Fred. So theres that. When bummer birthmark, Fred is the only thing that comes to mind in a serious literary conversation thats when the terror sets in. Why is everyone smarter than us!?
Sometimes the fears are work and school related. Yourenot at the right level. Youre two promotions away from being happy at work. Your blog traffic sucks. Youre not taking the right classes with the right professors. Youre not in the rig! ht clubs . Everyone knows what theyre doing and where theyre going and youre the only one floundering. Your mind is filled with too many Blues Traveler lyrics. Thats the problem. If you could find a way to extricate those then all of your problems would be solved (this is actually probably true).
Stop it! Joy, youre beating yourself up. Remember this: everyone is just as scared and unsure as you are. They may not have the exact same fears or worries but they have them. For sure. Some people are just better at hiding their fears than others, but were all in this together. When in doubt (which may be more often than wed like), remember that youre good enough exactly right now, stop fussing with your hair, get out there, and live! Exactly right now youre, were dang good enough.
No comments:
Post a Comment