2007-01-01 
 

lessons

One of my big lessons to learn in this lifetime is patience.

I know a lot of you are sitting back in shock saying, “Patience, but Michael, you have the patience of a saint!”

Alas, it is true. I am, deep down, a rather impatient person. I may be able to hide it from some, but the truth is....I want an Oompa Loompa Daddy and I want it RIGHT NOW!

It’s also important to note, for those few of you who know me professionally, that there is a difference between patience and suffering fools gladly. The latter, while necessary to my life in Corporate America, is something I do because of the monetary reward it affords me. As much kudos as I have received for this on the job, it is not truly patience. It is 20% acting and 80% my ability to work with words. A good friend's father once told me that I have a talent for telling people they smell like shit in a way that has them thanking me for the compliment. (He had the same ability.) But I digress.

This next bit's going to seem like more digression, but bear with me.

I grew up with a sneaking suspicion that I wasn’t as interesting as everyone else. Actually, this wasn't so much a suspicion as it was an outright fear.

I conquered this fear by alternating between three basic behaviors:

1. Despair that I was boring. This led to a lot of reading which would further convinced me that my life was dull.

2. Acceptance of my boringness. This lead to a lot of reading which enabled me to find excitement in others lives.

3. Excitement in the secret belief that I was, in fact, one of the most interesting people EVER born to this planet and just had to wait a while to find out why. This led to a lot of reading about...well everything to find that something that would give me an AHA moment and end the mystery of my purpose.

I slowly learned to avoid the first two and by my late teens, I was convinced that I was meant for great things.

In my 20s I was having too much fun to notice, but as I hit 30 I started to wonder when these great things would finally arrive. I do recognize that in a movie cliche sort of way, I have gotten everything I ever wanted: A happy home life and a supportive family. That said, I do still have the occasional dream of getting interviewed by Oprah and ending up on some years most influental list.

So, I'll continue to believe that life is teaching me patience as a tiny part of me waits to see what it might be that'll amaze the general public.

Hmmm, this brings me to a corollary lesson I should probably learn about getting off of my ass and making things happen.

Labels: dose of mikey

* posted by me at 4:07 PM

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