Dear Self,

October 05, 2011 candacemorris 3 Comments


I've not been feeling like myself lately, or so I hear from the ol' brain.  It just occurred to me that  perhaps it doesn't know what myself actually IS and what it's supposed to feel like - and who the hell am I to say what I can and can't do or be?  Perhaps the truest way to see it is that I am changing.  My profile blurs the more I try to see it, the definition of my soul vaporizes through my analytical hands. 

But are there things I can do to recover my old self, if I want to?  My comfortable self? Does Candace have to write to truly be Candace? Or can she take up spelunking and still be Candace...or does the definition of that Candace then change? And what is it Candace has to do to be a new Candace? 

Oh my.  I just had a horrible thought.  What if she starts wearing sports gear OUTSIDE?!  I shudder.  

The question remains, "What makes me, me?"  Is it my interests? Relationships? DNA?  Physical body? Soul (if one exists?) Character traits?  Lifetime on the earth?  Possessions? Big nail beds, fine hair, green eyes?

I am perpetually intrigued with the incongruities between a person's projected self and internal self.  Someone could be the biggest asshole to everyone else, but inside is sweet, sad, and broken.  Another might fancy themselves horrible at hosting when in fact they shine the most when cooking for company.   One person might pride themselves on being proper, another interprets that behavior as stuffy.  Some days I can feel so beautiful, then walk by a mirror and note objectively, "Huh - I'm just me. I'm average."  I don't FEEL average, so which is true?  Last night, on a date by myself, I made a love list.  It's the list of every man with whom I've ever engaged in a reciprocal romantic relationship.  I did this because it's good for me to remember that I am more than my marriage, am attractive to at least 20 guys.  Call it superficial, but what I need of late is the superficial boost.  I can't quite define what's happening, but for one of the first times in my life, I don't really need to.

And that, my friends...that is change.

Thoughts are power.  What are you feeding yours? I had officially gorged on screen time last month, so I made a new goal to read one book per week.  Four books and four weeks later, I'm cruising through my to-read list like a proper bibliophile.  My thoughts are thanking me.



You Might Also Like

3 comments:

UmberDove said...

If I catch you wearing polar fleece to the Met...

Also, I fell for you the first time we met.
But I think you knew that.

loves

You fell in love with my kimono-blouse first.

Unknown said...

Great reflection on the internal self vs. projected self...

Particularly when I had a massive war with acne in high school, I remember avoiding mirrors because every time I would see my face I would no longer be the confident boy that I felt I was inside. I would become the "freak" that I saw.

Thank goodness that "me" incorporates all of that (zits and confidence, alike). Phrases like, "This isn't me" when I do something different than normal are lies. It is an attempt by society or the self to push ourselves to be a certain way. That might be helpful in some circumstances (gold is purest through refining), but I am me, always. Good, bad, indifferent, growing, stagnant. I will never be someone else.