Tuesday, March 30, 2021

Nobody knows it but you've got a secret smile and you use it only for me (Semisonic)

Max Nayman on Unsplash

Recently, the blogpost below by Seth Godin got me thinking:
And who are you really?
There’s a desire to celebrate our “authentic” self.

But perhaps our considered self, the one that shows up when we’re doing our best to be consistent, generous and professional–that’s our authentic self. And the voice that slips out when we’re tired, stressed or busy is simply an incomplete and lesser version of who we actually are.

We’re the sum total of the interactions we choose to create and the changes we contribute.
Now, I'm not sure about this.

As I wrote on my Wozza's Place blog, I consider my professional self to be part of my authentic self because it's part of the sum total of who I am right here, right now.

But it's just a part because my professional self (Principal of two OneSchool Global campuses and teacher of English to a class of Year 10 students) is a role I adopt between 6.45am (when I arrive at school) and 5.00pm (when I leave for the day).

Between those hours I certainly aim to be doing my best 'to be consistent, generous and professional', but it's a role unlike other roles I have adopted (blogger, husband, friend, brother, father and so on). 

I'm sure if you asked the variety of people I interact with in my various roles they would tell you some different things about who I am.

Also recently, I was asked to supply 500 words on who I was - reading that piece which focussed on my professional life is very one sided (my career, academic achievements, why I love my job) with a few cherry picked things about me that have become a kind of shorthand over the years - Beatles/Arsenal/Star Wars.

It didn't get to the nitty gritty of who I am, that wasn't the brief. Social media won't help you much either - that's all designed to present certain self-images, right.

I feel some Walt Whitman coming on (from Crossing Brooklyn Ferry):
Appearances, now or henceforth, indicate what you are,
You necessary film, continue to envelop the soul,
About my body for me, and your body for you, be hung out divinest aromas,
Thrive, cities—bring your freight, bring your shows, ample and sufficient rivers,
Expand, being than which none else is perhaps more spiritual,
Keep your places, objects than which none else is more lasting.

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