Saturday, August 20, 2016

Follow up on my imperfections, the not as humorous version

               I dropped a bottle of syrup at the grocery store yesterday. A nice man picked it up for me and talked a bit about his arthritis. It’s very rare that someone recognizes my clumsiness much less makes me feel okay about it. I want to clear something up, I am okay. I’ve posted a lot recently on Facebook about how clumsy I am. It’s normal, for me anyway. I’ve come to a deep understanding of myself and what is normal for me. None of those things are new, I’m just learning to be a more humorous and open person. I haven’t had enough humor in my life. I suppose the average person isn’t at all that clumsy. There are likely a number of things that contribute to the way I am, maybe migraines, sleeping troubles, low blood pressure or other things.
               All those little things add up, little things I can’t do much about, just accept them as part of who I am. I’ve spent enough time letting them frustrate me or hold me back.  Despite any of those things I don't just do "the best I can".  I do well and I promise I'm still a normally functioning human being.

               Part of the reason I’m so open on social media is because writing is much easier than talking…so much easier. I’m a bit of an introvert (maybe more than just a bit). There’s a whole big part of me I don’t express. I can’t even really explain why. Some of it is I don’t want people to see exactly how off I can be at times, mostly from the perspective of my mental capacities not always being at their best. I know I’ve been called weird too more than the average person, and in my adult life I wonder if in particular moments it was a set-back. I don’t need reassurances that it’s not, that I am not or have never been weird, or that everyone is weird in some way. There are levels of weirdness that I think only the slightly weird truly understand.
               A part of myself I don’t express around people is my concern about many issues in the world, so I share articles on Facebook. I know there’s nothing I can do about most of those things, that I don’t have a deep enough understanding. I also know there’s hardly anything I can do to affect the way others think. Some of the things I do understand well enough though are introversion, frustration, silent illnesses, losing a parent before you're fully an adult, and things just not being right or going well. I’ve spent more of my life feeling unhappy than being happy. I am clueless as to how many people, close to me or not recognize that fact. I don’t care if people see that in me. I really don’t care what a lot of people think of me because I know I’ll get over it and I’m learning to create my own happiness. What I do care about is other people that feel like me, and the many people that feel way worse. There are so many, a few I know personally, whose pain goes unrecognized, pain short-lived and pain that is woven throughout too much of their lives.
               There are so many people trying to hide parts of who they are. It’s not always easy and some things slip through the cracks. My main purpose in writing this is that I want people to recognize that faults exists but they shouldn’t matter. I’ve had a few of my faults that I felt just wrecked things, particularly on the job front. Everyone cares deeply about their friends and relatives and they don’t see the faults or don’t think they matter. Though there are times, I’ve witnessed this in my life and in others, where near strangers don’t understand and they judge. The problem is that too often people don’t realize when they are making a judgement. There’s the saying “Those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.” That saying is not enough; many of the people you say that to have trouble adopting the mindset. A few words can’t fix deeply seeded feelings or anxiety. Be the person who doesn’t matter and doesn’t mind. We need more of those people in the world. The whole world could use more nice people in grocery stores. When someone you only know a little bit makes a mistake, big or small. don’t see the mistake, see the person above all.
               To the people who might feel like me, I hope I am inspiring you to accept your imperfections.

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Why you might not want to trust me with everyday objects

              I’m clumsy. I’m completely imperfect, the most imperfect person I know really. Don’t let my occasional sarcasm fool you and say I’m not. I may be unaware of my surroundings at times, but I’m okay with that. My goal in life is to be a teacher, and since I don’t have a full time job, instead of teaching art I will teach the world that imperfection is okay. Now I’ve been perfect for the past 18 hours, haven’t had a single clumsy act or moment of forgetfulness since dropping carrots on the floor yesterday, so with that level of perfection I don’t know if I can relate to the lowly imperfect people in the world, but I’ll try.
               Since writing that sentence 2 seconds ago I remembered I also dropped my phone last night, so that’s 13 hours of perfection. I suppose now I can relate. Here are some of my not quite best moments I’ve posted on Facebook:
  • This morning I was doing something at my computer and stopped to put a note in a cup of pencils that happened to be sitting 6 inches away from my coffee. Ten minutes later I had a delightful sip of folded paper infused with the essence of coffee.  I'm going to pretend that was the only clumsy thing I did all day. Please reassure me that clumsy and unaware are positive job attributes.
  • A lesson I learned today: Don't keep candles next to plants. You will inevitably water the candle because you are not a morning person.
  • I'm not a morning person. This is evidenced by me turning on the coffee maker without a cup under it. That's okay maybe everyone wants to start their day cleaning up a coffee spill. I'll pretend that's true so I can feel better about myself. Learn from my mistakes world.
  • My soup dropping skills are seriously impressive. Soup spread 5 feet across one wall and 3 feet across another. The really amazing thing is that there's a wall between the two covered in soup. I dare you to try and rival that.
  • I spilled catnip while putting it in a toy, then cleaned it up using a lint roller. Monster decided the lint roller makes a better toy.

Other odd and clumsy moments I remember:
Once I didn’t notice Monster Cat walk into the fridge when I had the door open.  He spent 2 hours there before I discovered him.


When teaching painting I stressed to the students not to drop the paint containers, even if the paint doesn’t spill it could crack the container.  I was the only one to drop the paint in that week and a half, and on the very last day of painting.  I’m not sure my pants, the floor, and computer chairs particularly appreciated it.