I have a question for you but, first, consider this…
Your life is a boutique, with goods on display. Shelves run the length of the walls. Display cases fill the center. Look at all those beautiful items. They draw the visitor in, deeper into the showroom. Each item is carefully selected to catch the eye and reflect a certain facet of your being. Not only is each item hand picked, each item is painstakingly placed on just the right shelf, at the perfect angle. Everything is curated. Even the cases are situated so you peruse at the right pace and in the right order.
This is the version of you that you think others need to see. This is your Facebook presence. This is your answer when people ask you “How are you doing?”
Then there’s the back room. Who knows what’s lurking there? Thankfully you’ve constructed magical wallpaper to mask the door that leads to the reject pile of your life. After a while, it’s as if that back room doesn’t even exist. But we both know it’s still there. So does everybody else. We’re just too polite to point it out for fear of ours being uncovered as well.
I was with family recently who I don’t often see. The circumstances of our reunion were somber. A lot of laughs were shared though. At one point, when I was about to leave, my cousin Rita told me about the first time she met my wife. Rita said she could tell Meredith was a beautiful person, inside and out, before she even said a word. What a compliment, eh? I happen to share Rita’s observation. I wonder if Meredith always does.
This had me thinking about how we see ourselves, how others see us and what we do in response to all this.
So, here’s my question: If you weren’t trying to impress somebody, how would you describe yourself? What would you focus on? What would you be willing to tell? What would you still need to hold in “invisible” back room storage? Would you be fair to yourself or would you judge harshly?
Who would you put on display?
I bet there are people who’d like to meet that person.
I bet you’d find you have a lot in common, too.
