Why I'm Awesome (Part 1 of 7,412): TALK

If you've spoken to or interacted with me for longer than 10 minutes in just about any setting outside of business, then you've undoubtedly heard me boast, ruthlessly, about the perfection of my hair. It really is the most gorgeous thing ever. I can't even mess it up without my hair returning, of its own accord, to its silken state.

Now, that is the only thing I am particularly vain about, as it is the only part of my body about which I have never been insecure. I love the shit out of my hair. Most of my physical vanity comes from my hair. Sometimes I'll hate my face or some other aspect of my body…but my hair has never been on that list.

As for my personality, there are only two things that I know are my biggest strengths. The rest…well, let's say that even on my best days I can feel shitty about some of the things I say and do.

One of the strengths that serves me best is my ability to verbalize just about any thought, emotion, or idea. That is, I am very capable of putting things into words, whether spoken or written. I think I have my outspoken nature to thank for that. I have always been very good at expressing myself, though I never really noticed until recently, when I was told by business contacts and relatives alike that I am very good at getting my point across.

A lot of it, apparently, has to do with the fact that I love to talk and write. On top of that, I have also had the privilege of communicating with people from a wide variety of backgrounds (socioeconomic and cultural alike). It becomes easy, then to shift and adapt my intonations, slang, vocabulary, and humor to best accommodate the people with whom I'm communicating.

The strange thing is that because I am capable of making this shift, people accuse me of being fake…because I act differently in front of different people. Here's the funny thing, dear naysayers of mine: you will often find that it is not only necessary, but prudent to approach different people different ways. I am still me, across the board, I am just finding different ways of expressing my one personality.

I used to hate the fact that you have to change the way you express yourself depending on the setting, because I used to believe that you should be able to be yourself in the purest form. I no longer believe this. I now believe that your personality encompasses how you present yourself to different kinds of people…in fact, in front of different people, a specific method of communication can actually get your personality (i.e., your beliefs, ideals, behavior, sense of humor, likes, dislikes, nature, etc) across even BETTER than another method.

I'm not saying that I enjoy saying things I don't think or support. Like most people out there, I hate saying things I don't mean, whether it's sucking up to a boss or agreeing with a business partner on something just for the sake of getting the deal through…or saying certain things just to impress someone. This is NOT what I am talking about here.

What I am talking about is your presentation, intonation, approach, word choice, and diction. The way you communicate, in other words. You can have a single personality while communicating in a variety of ways with a variety of people.

It is because I am capable of this adaptation, of identifying when and how to get my point across in the most efficient possible in any setting, that I would say that, yes, I am very, very good at expressing myself. My personality is very much the same across the board…it's just HOW I choose to show it off that's different.

Of course, it helps that I am articulate and have a well-stocked vocabulary, but even in Chinese, a language in which I find myself limited in terms of spoken communication, I am still able to express my meaning through a combination of intonation and body language.

No matter the form of communication and no matter the person with whom you are trying to communicate, there is always a combination that works best.

I firmly believe that in any exchange, the burden falls to the person speaking to properly send out the message. Sure, some of the responsibility falls to the listener to pay attention, but most of it comes down to how the person speaking chooses to get the message across (including managing to maintain the audience's attention).

My other strength, I'll talk about some other time…sometimes it's nice to ponder just what it is you're good at, because more often than not I find myself focusing a bit too much on the things that could be improved or the things that I outright dislike about myself.

Ah, self-therapy.