Jericho, from Stripped and Bare, posted his answers to an interview done with him over the weekend and upon completion asked for participants that would be willing to be interviewed by him. Reluctantly, I posted in his comments “interview me”. I was interested in seeing what he might pull out of my archives and what he might force me to answer with his questions. Self reflection is a terrifying thing for me at times. Yet, I asked him to, and so, here’s the interview.
1. You love to laugh. You come across as a person who enjoys making others laugh, too. You also reveal just enough to show that your laughter is sometimes a thin disguise. What thing in your control is bringing you (lately) the most displeasure in life?
Yikes. How do I pinpoint that? You are really forcing me to self reflect here and it’s a little scary. This is admittedly difficult. I’d have to list a couple of things here – 1. My job. I have a tremendous amount of responsibility in my role at the office and while I love what I do the recent pressure has reached the boiling point & I seriously need a break from the scenery (aka a vacation) or I need to move on to another job &/or location. 2. My weight. It’s definitely something I’m struggling with and trying to overcome. It’s also an easy excuse for me to use against myself – -for example, “if I weren’t overweight then I would do “x”” or “if I weren’t overweight I wouldn’t be single” or “if I weren’t overweight I ….” You get the idea. I’m harder on myself than anyone else is and if truth be told my friends tell me I’m crazy when I start talking about the weight thing – but its how I see myself and how I feel. If I were where I wanted to be then I would like to believe I’d be a much happier and confident woman. Of course, both of these things may only be an excuse to a more underlying object of discontent…..These were just the 2 that came to mind and made their way to this blog.
2. You mention many things (moving to a larger city, writing a book, skydiving, etc.) that you want to do. What, besides finances, generally holds you back?
Ah. I smile and retreat to my corner while answering this one. A few , 3 or 4, things hold me back – 1. My weight. (Yes, I know I just talked about this in #1 but I can’t answer this question truthfully without mentioning it again.) Growing up & all through school I was in great shape & felt really good about who I was – mentally, emotionally, & physically. I cheered, I worked out, I swam but as I grew up and began to deal with the trials and tribulations of life I began to use food as my comfort. I was in a terrible relationship for 7 years that reeked havoc on me in many senses of the word, couple that with an ailing father & his death, then the death of someone I thought I was suppose to marry, with many other things, and you get weight gain. I’ve begun to do something about it and you won’t see me talk about it much on my blog but I know that I hold the key to losing the weight and if I ever want to do ALL the things on the list that you’re referring to in your question & if I want to be healthy and have that beautiful glow again I must lose the weight. 2. Singledom – Being single definitely has it’s peaks – far too many to list here, but alternatively it has it’s valleys – and some of the things I want to experience I would love to share with someone. Sure, I can do things alone, and I do, but sharing an experience that could be a once in a lifetime thing with someone that’s special to me would just make it that much more meaningful. I don’t want to get to the end of my road and look back over my life and have no one to reminiscence with – that scares me sometimes. Other times I cherish the fact that I’m single and wouldn’t trade it for the world. 3. Confidence – I’m confident in many areas of my life but I lack the fortitude to make some of the more difficult decisions. For example, you’re right – I would love to move to a larger city, but I won’t right now because I lack the confidence to make such a decision without all the pieces in place. Have no fear though, I’ll get them in order, I’ll make that move. And too, losing weight will also help with the confidence in many other areas of my life. 4. My mother/family – My dad passed away almost 5 years ago and just prior to his passing I was planning to move away. I haven’t taken that step because I didn’t want to desert my mom. She’s told me not to allow her to hold me back from doing anything I want to do but I’m just really accepting the fact that she would be alright….and so, in the near future I’d like to think I’d take that step.
3. You want to write a book. Today you receive $52,000 in cash and are given the following assignment. Work a two week notice and quit. Your job will be waiting on you should you desire to return. You have one year to write a book – minimum page count 280. Now, what is your book about? What type of book is it? Where is it set? Who are the main characters?
Interesting assumption and scenario you lay out there. I’ve often thought about writing an autobiography. There’s much about me that defies the pages of my blog – writing it all may be somewhat therapeutic for me during the process and I like to humor myself by thinking it would be interesting to someone else. If about me, then obviously it would be set in the south and the main character would be – ta-da – me! That sounded really ego centric when I re-read it. Oh well. Another book I’d love to write would be a collection of poetry. It’s my outlet and often times the way you’ll see me express my innermost self here.
4. Considering your answer to #1, do you have a plan? If so, share as much of it as you care to.
The plan right now is to work hard, play hard, save some money, research the alternatives, weigh the options, and make an intelligent, informed decision. As for the weight – it’s a daily progression with watching what I eat and exercising more. Slowly but surely I’ll get where I want to be and I hope that along the way I can maintain my focus on the goal and not allow people to disrupt my course.
5. Many things make you laugh, bring you joy. What is the one thing that I can do today, besides interview you, to make your day more joyful?
Just be you & accept me for who I am — offer your friendship and ear.
For those of you that may want to be interviewed in this fashion here are the Official Rules for the Interview Game:
If you want to participate, leave a comment below saying, “interview me.”
I will respond by asking you five questions – each person’s will be different.
You will update your journal/blog with the answers to the questions.
You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.
When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
