the dreaded question

If this was our first time meeting, chances are, you would ask me the dreaded question.

‘So…tell me a little bit about yourself’

And I would feel a bit uncomfortable…I really do hate that question. It’s so open ended that I don’t know what you want from me. But after shaking off my momentary discomfort I would probably say something along the lines of

‘Umm hi…my name is Mayson….I’m 19…I live in London…and there’s nothing I love more than a new adventure…’

And in your head you would be thinking…

‘Classic answer, vague, generic enough so I have no clue who you are as a person or anything about you really.’

And in my head I would be thinking…

‘Brilliant, you think I’m shallow, aloof, have no idea who I am.’

And I wonder why it’s so stinking hard to explain who I am. But I would cover the silence with

‘Well tell me a little about yourself’

Brilliant, now I’m a hypocrite.

And you would feel the same discomfort I’m feeling now. Ha!

But that’s what I love about humans. We are beyond words. Outside explanation. We’re experiential beings living in a world begging us to confine our experiences into mere words. But words don’t do us justice.

We are esoteric.

esoteric

es·o·ter·ic \ˌe-sə-ˈter-ik

adj

1. confined to and understandable by only an enlightened inner circle

Small confession. This word did not exist in my vocabulary before today but I’ve so enjoyed discovering it because it explains what I have never been able to verbalize.

In normal human terms, something is esoteric if only a few people who have come to a specific realization can fully understand what is being described.

You say

‘Tell me a little bit about yourself…’

And I say

‘Umm hi…I’m Mayson but the answer to your question is quite esoteric.’

And you think

‘Showoff…’

And I say

‘How about we spend today together and maybe you’ll find an answer’

Ok this is definitely not something I would say, but I hope you get my point.

Words don’t do us justice.

Ages, addresses, interests, none of them enlighten people to who we are. The only thing that can do that is experience.

One day, experiencing life with another person will tell you more about them than words ever will.

Another small confession. I don’t think this thought process I’ve shared with you is actually going to change in any way how I answer the dreaded question….so tell me a little about yourself. But maybe I’ll stop asking the question and choose to experience people differently.

My hope really is that maybe by peeking into my thought process, perhaps you can consider yourself in the enlightened circle.

Maybe you don’t know anything about me.

But maybe you know me a little more.

Maybe these words let you experience what goes on in my head.

Maybe these words did me justice.