Me

The writing challenge topic for Day 6 is to name someone who fascinates you and explain why.  Naming myself may sound wildly self-centered, but really, aren't we all fascinated with ourselves?  We look in the mirror, worry how we dress, wonder what kind of impression we made, fret over whether we were misunderstood.  The truth is most of us are endlessly obsessed with ourselves and our place in the world.

Like most of us, I have an image in my head of the person I picture myself to be.  She's a snappy dresser, a good listener, a wise counsel.  She is smart, knows how to take care of herself and her family and stays in control.  She loves to read and write, play board games and lean new things.

Does this sound like you?  Substitute any adjectives you like above.

So, this is how I see myself and yet on a regular (daily?) basis, I find myself mentally eye rolling while someone is telling me a story, losing patience with my spouse or children, making poor choices, skipping that brisk walk or workout, ordering pizza (again!) instead of cooking a healthy dinner.  I put my book aside to watch tv or browse Facebook.  I rarely play board games because my family doesn't want to (I think because I usually win).  I have a Rosetta Stone set of Italian lessons I got for Christmas three years ago that I have yet to get through the first section.

Personally, I find someone who fails to do something spectacular ultimately more fascinating than a gifted athlete or a brilliant scientist or a prolific author.  Those are people who recognized or were recognized as having a particular talent, nurtured that talent and achieved results.  Nothing too fascinating there.  The fascinating people of the world are the people like me.  We know what or who we want to be and yet we struggle on a daily basis to get there.  I have no formula for achieving all your hopes and dreams because I haven't done it myself, nor have any of my friends or family.  Yet along with me, all of our possibilities remain endless and what could be more fascinating than that?