I was sitting in Radio class today, surfing the net per usual (this time for MBA information) when my teacher called on me to be interviewed by another classmate. The interview glossed over silly, comfortable things like what my Halloween was like (Awesome btw!) and what i wanted to do (Advertising, marketing, tv/fashion, entrepreneur extraordinaire) and where i was from (NYC BABY!) It didn't really capture the gist of what the teacher wanted to hear though. Didn't capture who I was. All the time, during the interview I was thinking "I don't know what these people want to hear... I don't really have anything to say." Then the teacher interrupted with one statement "Tell me about yourself in thirty seconds..." and it opened so much more a unveiling, free-flowing interesting conversation.
It's the questions you ask others, the questions you ask yourself as well as what you're willing to respond with.
I'm such a private person. I don't think there's anyone out there that knows everything that's happened to me. (Could be a good or bad thing.) Half due to the fact that people don't ask the right questions and the other part due to the fact that I don't say. I look at reality shows like Real World and can never picture myself on there. My life opened for the world to see? I'll pass. I admit it would be a hell of a show though.
"Live Fast, Die Young" just came on my iPod. I love that song, and I dont think it'll ever get old to me. Live for the moment and put a bullet on it. Half of me believes that if i was forced to say all my actions out loud, I'd think about them more before I just dove into them. I kind of embrace the thoughtlessness of being carefree in life too though. It's the best and worst thing that's ever happened to such a futuristic thinker and planner such as myself. I encourage everyone to live in the now. It's the only way to learn for the future, realize your past and understand your present. Anyway I'm going on a tangent...
Back to the interview. The point of the interview was to reach below the surface and learning to ask the right questions in order to get the sort of answers you want. Even when the person we're asking the questions to are ourselves. We're scared to find things out about ourselves, others, we simply don't care, or are not willing to analyze. A lot of the times I find myself asking "Why doesn't that person know that?" "Why is that man like 25 and not advancing...? Doesn't he see his peers passing him?" "Why does she keep making the same mistake over and over expecting a different result?" Those people probably haven't had any one ask them those questions or they don't ask themselves those questions.
And asking questions stretches beyond just uncovering interesting things, it's about opening opportunities. I would ask my aunt if she was busy and she'd confirm and I'd leave it that. My Grandma would force me to go back to her and ask her directly if she'd take me somewhere and she'd say "yes." I never wanted to ask the direct question though.
It could be the same private part of me that likes to hold back information until Im sure it'll be received well but I think we each have a bit of that in us and it's more hindering than helpful. And so the process of making my voice louder begins. It's not that no one wants to listen, sometimes you have to force them to. Even if the person is yourself.
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