You’re like a big bear, man.
Posted: April 4th, 2009 | Author: Justin Cresswell | Filed under: About, Random | Tags: assert, sales, swingers, video, wwddd | 2 Comments »Who are you when you walk into the room? When you really walk into the room -- the networking event, the dinner party, the sales meeting, the company picnic. Who are you? To differing degrees, we all have different versions of ourselves. Speaking for myself -- mostly to avoid sounding like a psychology lecture I’m not qualified to give -- I adopt looser, more casual behaviors around close friends and at home with my family, and a more formal and professional demeanor when performing my work duties.
And as the boundaries between career and home and self blur, or even vanish altogether for me, I find an increasing need to project confidence. To ask for what I want. To be myself. The 15-year old version of me would cringe if he saw who I’ve become. From wallflower to aping Don Draper is a big jump. To push shyness aside and reach for your slice of a larger world is exciting, fun. A challenge. We all need a cheerleader like Vince Vaughn is to Jon Favreau in this clip.
“When you go up to talk to her, man -- I don’t want you to be like the guy in the PG-13 everyone’s really hopin’ makes it happen.
“I want you to be like the guy in the rated R movie, you know? The guy you’re not sure whether or not you like yet; you’re not sure where’s he’s coming from. You’re a bad man, you’re a bad man, you’re a bad man. A bad man.”
At parties I pretend I’m the girl who is hiding in the bathroom downing xanax with pilfered booze and wishing someone would talk to me. My imagination and my reality are pretty much exactly the same.
I look at the issue you bring up in two different ways, I guess. And it’s likely that the hubbub of “Google is forever” scrutiny plays a role, too–at least when considering whether self-censorship or circumspection is part of your “hit Enter key” filter. There are stories of folks, likely many talented and well-meaning, who have been lambasted or otherwise forever disadvantaged because they acted impulsively or maybe more accurately, their written words were viewed out of context (intentionally or not). So yeah, I “get” being different people in different settings. There’s the side of us that exists and even thrives in everyday life, that person who compromises, admits wrongdoing, and tempers themselves because sometimes the most effective route isn’t direct, it’s circuitous. And I also agree that there are situations when the inner self roars up, allowing a brazen act that screams “This is how it’s gonna be done!”
Good luck to you to reconcile the two, or three Justins. I like the one I know quite a bit