Get Comfortable with the Weird

I'm reading singer/actor Tyrese Gibson's book, How to Get Out of Your Own Way. It's thought provoking. He's transparent and real. Something I read yesterday had me jazzed, he said, "Get comfortable with the weird." He contends that it's the weird people who change the world, people like the late great Steve Jobs, once embattled but later lauded, CEO of Apple.

I thought about it and agree, weird is where it is. You know that thing about you that makes you different from everybody else, that way of being, that quirk, that penchant for making people laugh, relax, want to grow, that's the very thing that makes you uniquely special. You know what I'm talking about, those qualities, traits, ideas that you have that your friends and family tease you about. Yeah, those things. Stop resisting them and see the beauty and value in them. When Oprah was a kid some thought she talked too much. In fact, Tyrese says when he was a kid none of his friends and family thought he could sing. "Boy, would you shut up?" is what he would frequently hear from family. Now they ask him for free concert tickets. What if Mr. President would have listened to those so called smart people who believed his name was an impediment to success as a politician. Shucks, Barack Obama is the quintessential "politician," he's the president of the bossiest country in the frickin' free world!

I'm going to embrace and honor my voice. What about you, what weirdness are you going to get comfortable with? The world needs it/ C'mon, share it with us.

DeBora

www.DeBoraricks.com

Author of Love Addicted

The World Has Nothing For You

“Come over here,” I say to my daughter, “look at my blog.” As she peer over my right shoulder, reading it she quips, as if she really wants to understand, “Why do people blog?” Here’s why I blog. I blog for the same reason I gave birth to her, I need to give birth something that’s God put in me. I need to create, to express, to give something to the world. Chances are, this is the same reason others blog. We have got to express ourselves. It’s an imperative.

I have observed that when I went on a spending moratorium my urge to write and speak have spiked. You see, an addiction is a hunger for ecstasy, to feel alive…not just the desire to avoid pain. Our giving into that addictive urge means we feed this hunger in an unhealthy, destructive way. One day a sisterfriend whispered to me, “I need to curb my spending. I really don't need anything anyway.” I responded with an answer for us both, “Why don’t you see how you might get that same feeling in another way.” Later I took on the challenge for myself. Instead of futilely seeking a sense of aliveness, worthiness, and beauty from another pair of shoes I decided to step up my game. I decided to stop being so doggone afraid of rejection and judgment and put both feet in the game by better promoting Love Addicted, really putting myself out there as a speaker, coach, trainer and writer. Blogging is a renewed commitment to finding my authentic voice. I agree with Rev. Michael Beckwith when he said, “The world has nothing to for you, you have something for the world!”

We are creative beings. All of us. Not just some of us, all of us. You need not blog, spit poetry, belt out a song, tap dance or paint, still you’re creative. You create every time you dress in the morning, prepare a meal, decorate a room, write a letter, coach a client, give a talk, make a funky pair of earrings for me Angel. The creative impulse is as natural as breathing. All of life creates.

Our addiction to food, booze, weed, Percocet, clothes, sex, relationships loses the power to choose for us when we respond to our deepest desire, which is to give, to express our authenticity, to create. Each of us has been ordained to give something that only we can give. Our withholding these gifts show up as dis-ease, addiction, depression, cruelty, unhappiness.

What are you waiting for? Go ahead, give yourself and gifts away and watch how beautiful and alive you feel!