There’s Only One of Me

No, this isn’t about feeling stretched thin. I don’t, actually.

This is about the elimination of personas until there is only one of me alive in the world. And how liberating this is.

Existential? No doubt. I’ll go there anyway.

Persona defined:

1. An assumed identity or character;
2. The mechanism that conceals a person’s true thoughts and feelings, especially in his adaptation to the outside world (as in an assumed identity or character).

I find it interesting the number of people who read my blog and then say to me something along the line of, “You are really good at taking what you believe and applying it in an appropriate way to Wisegate.”

I hear them say, “You have been able to create an acceptable work persona.”

I have a friend named Joel who is a CEO of a publishing company. He talked to me recently about donning a persona at a conference so he could work the room, schmooz, do the deal. I got exhausted just thinking about it; I remember doing just that – donning the persona that the situation called for. The thing is, I can’t do it anymore. Or rather, I am not willing to. I’m tired of being that tired. There is only one of me.

But I have wrestled with it as well. Let’s look at this blog as evidence. Early on, I struggled with what to say – what was “appropriate” to say here because this blog is about my job, my company, and the subject of work. How did I relate that to me and my beliefs?

When I launched this blog last year, I had just a couple of entries over three or four months. Why? Because I didn’t know what to write. I didn’t know what to say that was “appropriate” (dang I hate that word!). When I put my blog writing through the filter of appropriate-for-work-persona, I came up with: not much to say.

Then I tried taking a different approach. I started writing what I believed coupled with what I have observed and thought about recently; topics that I considered thought provoking or perhaps even helpful.

It was then that things changed. I started having fun with writing this blog – looking for the story that needed telling. I write this in my downtime and thoroughly enjoy it (right now it is Sunday afternoon and I am hanging out outside with Homer and our dogs).

Once I took the filters off, more people started reading it, more comments were submitted, and more people emailed me after reading something I had written. The most rewarding comments came from my husband; he told me after “Courage is a Habit” that I had inspired him that day to have a conversation he had been dreading. How cool is that?!? And I love when members write to me and say something about reading my blog – that they enjoyed it or were inspired. That’s marvelous.

Now that there is only one of me, I have way more fun and get much more satisfaction from my writing. I believe what I write here. I always appreciate hearing from you.

I hope the one of me works for you.