Posted by Racer on June 23, 2004, at 13:09:28
Dunno what prompted me to post my list in the first place, but after reading all the lists that were posted, I felt a lot better. After all, if all those amazing people could suffer from depression, then it really wasn't a case of me being a total loser, right? We had the great good fortune to hear from a bunch of real winners. If such accomplished people can share the same sort of pain losers such as I suffer, well, maybe it's nothing personal, you know?
Reading those lists was inspiring for me. I hope that those of you who didn't post a list felt inspired, too, by what was shared and exposed.
Whatever inspired that first post, I'd like to issue a much gentler challenge to those of you who posted that you couldn't post:
You don't have to post a list of your own here, in public, which is so intimidating. You don't even have to tell anyone that you've made a list of your own -- although I really hope you'll post here that you have if you do, even if you don't tell us what's on it. You don't even have to avoid the "yes, buts." You know what? Despite the ideal world in which "Yes-But" does not exist, we live in this world, where sometimes the answer really is, "Yes -- but..."
I hope, though, that each of you will try to jot down a short list of a few things you value in yourselves. No set number, no rules -- heck, at times my list would have been pretty much limited to "I like the shape of my fingernail beds..." But it felt good to me, and I suspect to others as well, to clarify those elements of myself that I value. It made a difference. I hope you can give yourselves a similar gift, even if you keep it private.
And keep in mind that we share this board with someone who knows how to keep bees! That alone counts as a blessing in my book, today at least. Isn't that an interesting skill to have? And aren't we fortunate to be able to interact with one another, when there are so many such arcane and interesting skills available here?
poster:Racer
thread:359459
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20040619/msgs/359459.html