Anybody who speaks quietly and shrivels up in company is believably arrogant.
Orson Welles
We praise shyness in children. We grow up and associate it with humility, but hiding away and shying away from the person you are in any setting is a great sin of pride. Keeping your eyes down, when you have so much to share, is an almost unforgivable act of arrogance.
How you wonder?
Lets begin with how you see yourself. You speak your mind freely in close comfort of your home and shrivel up with strangers because you believe that you have nothing worthwhile to contribute. You doubt and abhor your own thoughts. You think you are empty of great ideas. You don’t think you’re funny, or smart, or worse, lovable. You believe your mistakes are an indication of what you won’t be able to accomplish in the future.
But that is a lie. Your reality is making you hide and play shy. Remember that the very brightest future is often paved and cultivated with yesterday’s failures and tears.
So speak up. Speak loudly. Speak and make glorious mistakes. You can try your best not to, but do let go of thinking that your next move has to be perfect or that you have to be good enough to begin, because like a good sculptor knows, that is not the case. You begin where you are, with what you have, the rest will come together in its own time.
When Michelangelo looked at a piece of unpolished marble, he saw with his minds eye, the magnificent David. You see only an unpolished, heavy, and rough rock. You are that piece of marble. You are also the artist with the hammer and chisel. Like Michelangelo, you need to see yourself as you have never seen yourself before, so that like an artist, you may bring out, what nobody can see, but you.
Let the days of speaking quietly die a quick and painful death. Don’t wait to be chosen. Don’t wait to be good enough. Don’t listen to those dark thoughts of doubt that batter you down like a tropical storm.
Be humble. Don’t be arrogant. Speak your mind. Don’t speak quietly. Share yourself with all of us. Don’t hide from anyone. Share who you are. Share your ideas. Share your laughter and your tears. Don’t be afraid to take the next step forward.
Leave your arrogant ways behind. Bring forth a spirit of humility and let us know what you think, what you feel, and what you intend to do next.
