Evelyn Rodriguez asks in a comment to my post on Ampage in Conversation
“But I’d like more ampage…taking risks …”
I know that’s a common viewpoint, but I wonder why it’s so…why we think that being ourselves is taking a “risk”? Does anyone consider the higher risks they take by squelching and stifling themselves?
That’s a good question. As with most comments about risk, I guess it’s all relative. Shut down and hide yourself too much, and you avoid the “risk” of exposure, but increase the risk of being cut off from reality. Cells that become rigid, die. Brands that hide behind their grandiose propositions tend to get cut off from reality and don’t get taken seriously.
Once or twice today, I caught myself doing more “people pleasing” than is good for me. Trying to make the other person happy, based on pure guesswork about what they might like. Politeness is not always a virtue and can make for lifeless conversation.
Apparently the Victorians worked themselves into such a lather about lude exposure that they started putting covers on piano legs. Needless to say the shadow side of Victorian life was a lot more interesting.
