Self Awareness
I got to talk to someone this weekend about self-awareness. I think that this is one of my best qualities. Sure, it will sometimes cause me to torture myself with extreme over-analysis of situations and my own actions, but at least I am not ignorant to the ramifications of my own actions. After some reflection on my self-awareness, I figured I would share the results.
I act older than I am most of the time. My friend Mister Crunchy once told me that I was the oldest 21 year old he had ever met (I am now 24) when he asked me what I wanted to do after college and I told him that I wanted to get a job, and probably buy a house. What followed was an incredulous dissertation on seeing the world and taking advantage of youth.
I get embarrassed by situations and do what I can to make them different. If I see someone pissing someone else off and one person doesn’t realize it and the other is about to explode, I will try and defuse the situation when I think most people would enjoy the fireworks display. I just don’t want the discomfort of an embarrassing situation like that.
I overthink everything. We could have a 4-5-word conversation and I will be thinking about the implications and subtext even when there probably weren’t any.
I don’t know everything, but when I think I know something in particular, I get way too overzealous trying to win the argument/bet/point. I have even compiled statistics. My friends and family will certainly validate this one. My friends and I once argued for weeks about whether the Miami Hurricanes championship college football team could beat the Cincinnati Bengals in a football game. My old college roommate who loved arguments like this fostered this habit. We had a 3-year argument/discussion as to whether 1998’s Navy College Basketball team could beat North Carolina, if Navy had the services of David Robinson. This is the same roommate who argued with me about the definition of the word genius and whether it should apply to Eminem. Oh, and if a golfer hits a good shot with an unconventional swing, is it still a bad swing or does the positive end result make it a good swing?
When I am unhappy I tend to spend money. I bought a ridiculous amount of musical equipment this year, when really all I needed was a single guitar and amplifier.
I put on a very good front that I can be very mean, but really when it comes to confrontation, I am not so good. In a few situations I have felt comfortable getting into arguments and things, but generally if I really don’t stand to gain anything, I will back down. You won’t catch me going nuts because of “the principal” of the matter unless it is very important.
That is all I have for now.
Comments
I know this wasn’t the point, but any man in his twenties who can resist stupid arguments like these has something wrong with him:
The Bengals stink, but assuming the Hurricanes are forced to play by NFL rules, the Bengals would still beat them. Not every player on the Miami championship team is in the NFL. Everyone on the Bengals is. (Barely)
One player goes a long way in college basketball, especially on offense. But David Robinson couldn’t guard everyone. Are we talking 33-year-old David Robinson as he was in ‘98? Or are we talking college-aged David Robinson? Or even Scoring Champion ‘93-’94 David Robinson? If I remember right, Navy was pretty good that year, even if they do play in the Patriot League. I say Navy wins by a nose on the Robinson factor.
Eminem is not a genius. Maybe a savant. Maybe not even that. Too early to say.
Bad swing’s a bad swing. The result is an independent variable.
“The world was made for those not cursed with self-awareness.”
Don’t I know it.
My daily over-analyzations have left me burned out on some occasions, and in search of an outlet for all the contemplation that wasn’t going anywhere. Your blog seems like a sufficient outlet for you, and it has inspired me to do the same. I think you are doing a good job here, and I wanted to say thank you. Could I put up a link to your site?
First of all, I am happy whenever someone feels like linking my site. So please do!
Onto your comments Justin, we came up on the same side of every argument with the exception of the Eminem one. I was saying that it is reasonable to consider him some sort of qualified genius. He obviously isn’t going to come up with scientific theories, but his ability to think in hip hop terms qualifies him as a genius because he does things so differently, at least according to educated ears, not my own.
I was right on with you on the NFL thing. Miami would lose 100 out of 100 games against the Bengals assuming the Bengals use their starters in every game. Corey Dillon alone would kill them.
I also think Navy with a professional David Robinson would win and a golf swing has fundamentally accepted truths as far as right and wrong are concerned and regardless of end result, a bad swing is a bad swing.