Who Are We?

If there is one thing I know (and some would tell you that there is) it is this...if you're not happy with who you are, no one else is going to be all that impressed by you either.  If you feel like you have to constantly get recognition for who you are, then the recognition you do get will not be true recognition of who you are so much as it will be recognition of the fact that you want recognition.

I read an article several years ago that talked about the different kind of status messages that people put on facebook or other social media websites.  I can't recall all the names the article gave the different types of messages, but one of them had something to do with baiting.  Putting a status message just vague enough so that others would question its meaning.  At that point the door would then be opened to brag about who you are or what you accomplished, and if called on the fact that you were bragging you can always say, "I'm not bragging, I'm just responding honestly to the question that was asked."

This type of thing is usually born out of some insecurity with yourself, and I'll admit that I've done this.  Not so much on facebook (at least not that I can recall) but in life.  I've been called on it a few times too.

I recently got back on facebook.  While the drama is still very much there, I got back on more to try and keep up with what is going on.  Unfortunately I was missing out on a lot of what was going on with members of my family who I don't hear from often because I was not seeing things on facebook.  Two of my nephews recently celebrated the births of daughters, and not being on facebook, I didn't have the opportunity to see pictures or know much about what was going on.  Two of my nephews were recently deployed with the military, and again, because I was not on facebook, I wasn't aware of it.  But I also noticed some who not only made sure to let you know what makes them so great, but who also portray themselves as being someone that they are not.  If you like to talk about who you are and things that you do, great...that's why I do this blog, it lets me talk about those things and if those who read are interested, great.  If they are not interested, that's ok too.  I like to talk about things I do, especially my running.  I can honestly say that I don't do it to brag, but because it is something that brings me real happiness and I like to share that part of my life with people.

But my main point with all this rambling is, I don't need to impress anyone and no one needs to impress me.  There will be those who impress me, but they will do it by just simply being themselves.  If someone is trying to impress me I'm rarely impressed.  Impress me by being a good person.  Be a John Kreuz who, while kind of quirky and who tells some of the worst jokes I've heard, is always helpful and is always trying to help someone out with whatever they need.  Be a Tammie Carroll, who has raised two kids to be good students and have respect for those around them.  Neither one of these people are perfect, but they're not out to impress anyone either.  They are who they are.  They don't try to be someone or something they are not.  Saying it enough times does not make it so.  It's your actions that dictate who you are, not your words.  Those who are truly impressive are the ones who are not trying to impress anyone.