Sense, Nonsense, and Not-Sense

The thing I rather like about Dreamwidth, in that Internet/meatspace way is that I have total choice on each post. Am I willing to put this out there fully publicly where anyone can see it? Or do I post it only to my circle? Or if I'm having a particularly insecure day do I filter it to only the handful of people I have known long enough to really trust? And if I start to feel panicky about that thing I posted yesterday, I can change my mind and lock it. Or if I post something locked and a few days later calm down and decide I was being paranoid, I can make it public again. (I would never survive in a public forum like Twitter.)

It helped me to focus on things that I admire and respect in other people. When I'm judging myself harshly it's often based on very shallow reasons (I feel ugly, I'm self-conscious about not making much money, etc). I think I'm replaying the old judgments from childhood when kids would tease me for wearing unfashionable clothing and I thought the entire school was staring at my latest zit. But when I think of people that I admire, the things that come to mind are "honest, kind, dependable, welcoming, conscientious, thoughtful, smart, analytical, funny…" and none of those qualities fall too far off the mark. Like you, sometimes I feel I should qualify with "I try to be…" but the very act of trying to be a good person kind of makes you a good person.

Thanks for sharing that Tumblr post on "just" being kind. I think "just" is one of those words I overuse as it is even when it doesn't belong in the sentence at all.