What was I dreaming?
Four words danced in my waking periphery.
You’re
doing
it
wrong.
Where’d that come from?
Perhaps it’s because sometime between yoga class and lunch yesterday I discovered my shorts were on inside out. They don’t have a tag—size, branding, and material content are printed right on the fabric. It was an easy mistake to make while rushing out the door.
Here’s the thing, despite my recognition….and a trip to Ace Hardware, Home Depot, and my in-laws….I never flipped them.
Quite a rebel.
Or maybe it’s that happiness quiz I took the other day?
….something about diagnosing your “type”…….
Every question had an available answer that translated to….
“You don’t (like to) follow the rules.”
And every time….I chose that answer.
Which is really weird because if you asked me to describe myself Rule Follower would certainly be in the mix.
I never got the quiz results because I’d have had to sign up for a newsletter.
No thanks.
Yes…I see the irony.
Or…..
I’m reading The Rise and Fall of Jenny Goodguts by Jennifer Hole. The book is a compilation of the author’s blogs.
She’s hilarious.
Honest….
…..survives on something she calls ham crusts and tea while raising two young children, moving, quitting a job, freelancing, fixing up a real fixer upper.
The book description contains this gem….Full of thoughts on culture and the choices we make, she writes with humor, and occasional measured indignation, about trying to do something and not doing it.
Anyhow….
I’m thinking about You’re doing it wrong!
How often do I hear and/or feel You’re doing it wrong! from others?
How often do I hear it from myself?
Gasp! How often do I transmit it to others?
Today I’m participating in an online seminar hosted by poet David Whyte.
There might have been a time when I thought doing so was wrong…..outside of my cultural box.
These are the kind of rules I’m questioning because…..
Where is the freedom in being like everybody else?
I enjoyed this post so much. Please keep doubling down on being "More Gail." Let wrong or right be history's decision to make.
Quite a tour de force! No, I say that kindly. Owning one’s complexities and contradictions isn’t always easy. Sharing them with the world takes courage. Living out loud.