December Daily: pleasantly surprised

[resonant]

castiron -- something that you're pleasantly surprised to have in your life.

Over the past decade (starting in my midforties), I began to discover that I'm a lot less shy than I used to be.

Apparently I can make my voice heard in a roomful of people. I can do brief public speaking (competently, if not with any sort of actorly flair) with or without preparation. I can negotiate with authority figures. I can access a sort of Host persona that allows me to meet and greet strangers without undue suffering, though it certainly saps my energy.

My job interviews are getting to be more like conversations. I've even had the experience of getting five minutes into a phone interview and learning enough about the position to say, "Hey, from what you're telling me, this isn't for me, so I don't want to waste your time." That would have been hard to imagine ten years ago.

I suspect that this is partly age ("yeah, I did this before and I didn't die") and partly parenthood. Parenthood actually rewards you for making an effort to just by damn get what you require, which is not something that the culture offers women very often.



Comment to leave me a prompt! Steal castiron's prompt if you want to do the meme yourself!


7 -- mekare -- favorite fandom traditions.
8 -- armadillo1976 -- What is your comfort reading? Fic, high-brow literature, commercial fiction, whatever.
9 -- exceptinsects -- favorite romantic moments...in books, movies, fic, real life?
10 -- pauraque -- your favorite movies as a kid (or favorite kids' movies as an adult)
11 -- mific -- a winter's tale. Anything wintry, good or bad.
12 -- runpunkrun -- advice you've found useful
13 -- terminally_underwhelmed -- things that change, things that don't.
14 -- watersword -- Tell me about a memorable meal.
15 -- anitac588 -- Chris Evans.
16 --
17 -- ride_4ever -- birthdays
18 -- muccamukk -- Dwarvish things in your everyday life. (Moved from the 17th so ride_4ever could get the birthday date.)
19 --
20 -- copracat -- memory.
21 -- rhi -- cats.
22 --
23 -- laurenthemself -- Something spooky that's happened to you
24 --
25 --
26 --
27 --
28 --
29 --
30 --
31 --

Comments

[lunabee34]

*nods nods*

I agree with you about parenthood creating those skills.

[resonant]

It's almost selfish for a parent not to be selfish. You learn to make demands on behalf of your kid, even if you wouldn't make them for yourself.

[lunabee34]

That is very true.

[castiron]

Making one's voice heard -- a couple of years ago at folk dance camp, some kids were being far too rambunctious for indoors, and I surprised myself as well as them with the volume and tone I used to yell "Stop that and settle down!" -- a deep, loud voice that I've only managed when one of my own kids was about to run into the street. It worked....

[resonant]

Ha, I'd like to have heard that.

[anelith]

I really love that about being middle-aged. I don't know whether it's age alone, or the particular circumstances of my life (I'm lucky to have a happy and secure home), but it's wonderful to have more confidence in myself and less of that fear of what others think of me.

[resonant]

It's so sad the way we hinder ourselves with self-consciousness.