overcoming inhibition

Introverts, Be You!

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   I’ve just started reading a book about an introverted young woman trying to be an extrovert for a year.  The title is “Sorry I’m Late. I Didn’t Want to Come.” It’s pretty good so far.  I’m also an introvert, but thankfully not a shy introvert anymore like the author is. I was painfully shy until my mid teen years and it was a long slow process coming out of my shell. 

   As I said, I’m still an introvert but I do enjoy social events now. I love hanging out with friends, going places and doing things, and meeting new people. I just need downtime to reenergize in between. A good example would be back in my late twenties when I worked in the Men’s Department at Sears and we had “Super Saturdays” every week of the Christmas season. We had four registers and the lines were all a mile long.  I actually enjoyed the stimulation and the holiday atmosphere.  I cheerfully waited on customer after customer, for two or three hours. Unfortunately, it went on a good hour longer than my energy lasted. By the time I got a break, I was emotionally exhausted. I just felt drained, not anxious or depressed or angry or anything like that. Just pretty tuckered out. But after a somewhat secluded break, I felt rested.

   When I was younger, I had a lot more anxiety and the above experience might have been more intimidating, and not so enjoyable. I had both generalized and social anxiety. I don’t have much anxiety anymore. Frankly, I don’t care too much about what other people think as I’ve gained experience and confidence. I’ve also met a lot of nasty or arrogant people.  Their negativity is their problem, not mine.  It’s very freeing when you realize that, while not perfect, you’re one of the good ones and there’s no need to be fettered by jealous haters, snobs, well meaning friends and family, or malicious sociapaths. (I’ve met all kinds.) Focus on the good folks you meet and don’t worry about the rest, or their judgment. It doesn’t matter.

   You be you!  And have the confidence and sense of adventure to keep developing who that is.

One swim forward

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I work at a place that does digital scanning and microfilming of materials such as books, newspapers, documents, photos, slides, negatives, etc.  Almost a year ago, I switched from digital to the film department, where most of the material is newspapers. (Yes they still do microfilm, but it’s just for preservation, whereas digital is for access.) I don’t think I’m allowed to mention clients, projects or titles, but I’ll just say I was working on a project today that involves a variety of local papers from just the last couple of years. There was a lot of high school sports coverage.

It got me to thinking about my very un-athletic school days. In particular, some articles triggered my thinking about swimming, and the fact that I didn’t learn until my mid-20’s. Even at that time, it was just kind of learning on my own and not very well.

My sister had swim lessons when we were kids. She was the oldest, and she did nothing but complain about having to take the lessons. I guess that’s why my brother and I didn’t get them. My mom gave up.

There were many times over the years, when it became an awkward and embarrassing issue for me.  We were invited to friends of the family who had pools, and there were the pool party invitations, camp, school trips and such. Seemed like everybody knew but me.

I resented my parents for things like that for a long time. Then, I forgave them and learned to swim, even going pretty far out from the beach when I was at the shore one year. In fact, I got the whistle blown at me by the lifeguard to head back in.

Why didn’t I just do that as a kid, you might wonder? Well, I was very inhibited, shy, meek, and as mentioned, not at all athletic. I needed help. I was able to do it as an adult because I had overcome a lot of my issues. Not all, mind you, but a lot.

I feel blessed to have an independent and tenacious spirit. That helped me to conquer swimming, and many other things. With all of them, the first step was to put aside issues like self-pity, jealousy, and resentment. You have to take a good hard look at yourself sometimes and see your own part in things. Sure, it wasn’t my fault as a young kid, that I couldn’t swim, but couldn’t I have done something about it sooner than I did?

Maybe I shouldn’t have had to, but “shouldn’t have to” is the most useless phrase in the English language.

I’d be lying if I said I have no resentment left toward my parents about any issue. I still think about how little guidance I received as a clueless teen.  I’ll continue with that in another post.

In the meantime, I’ll just keep doing my best and try to keep looking forward, not back.