Excavation tools in hand, I head to the playground for this week’s SANDBOX WRITING CHALLENGE. It’s a sunny day, and I can feel the warmth of the sun, as I sit down in Lady Calen’s, Impromptu Promptlings Ocean Cove, where we meet each week. This is the seventh day. I’m ready. Written in the sand is our prompt – The Challenge:
PROMPT: What is about you or that you do that makes you stand out from those around you? It’s hard for some of us to give ourselves the kudos we truly deserve, so here’s your chance to do just that.
Okay, so my first thought was… huh? My second thought, was it asking me to say what ‘brings me to life?’ What excites me? Though I’m uncertain that’s actually what is meant here, because it says, ‘what makes me stand out from those around me?’ That doesn’t sound like the same thing. Though, I believe it’s all really up to our own interpretation of the question.
I’d have said, immediately, to the ‘what brings me to life’ one, music. Without a doubt, that has a definite affect on me, and my mood, and how I feel, and act, and so on. It also makes me excited. I know that challenges – as in solving puzzles type challenges – really motivate me. It’s like I’m being dared to try, or something like that. Still, it doesn’t feel like the right fit for the true question. What makes me stand out is a whole other kettle of fish.
So let’s get the neg-head out of the way: I don’t think anything makes me stand out. Seriously. I’m not any different from others. I’m pretty much typical.
DONE.
Now, on to what actually makes me stand out, in my own opinion? When I decided to go to college, four years after graduating from High School, I chose to become an occupational therapist. I think the main reason was I’m a pretty damned good problem solver – at least for other people. I have an inate understanding of things, though I don’t quite know why I have that quality. But it’s there.
An example, might be. In 1970, when circumstances put me into drug rehab, I remember the first week when I was on a live-in basis. I don’t generally speak up, when I’m new. I just watch, and listen. So, of course, the staff member running the ‘encounter group’ called on me, asking me what I thought about what everyone else was saying. I shrugged, not really knowing how to respond; more likely not wanting to respond. So she said that I should go around the room (not physically) and say what I thought each person was ‘about.’ And I did. It was just giving my point of view on what I’d seen and heard from this group, my observation. When I finished, the staff member said that I was spot on, about everyone. I had no idea how that might happen. But it seemed to be something I could do, easily. I am analytical, which, in retrospect, makes sense.
Does that make me stand out? I don’t know.
Maybe what makes me stand out are the little things I do naturally. I rescue all manner of beings. I help others. It isn’t something I even think about. If someone looks like they’re in need of help, I’ll offer to do what I can. Perhaps that makes me stand out. But all these things are not necessarily unusual. There are lots of people who do that. I certainly know quite a few, I’ve met, here, within the last nine months, who are the same.
A very groovy dude – if you don’t know Plato’s Groove blog, you should – recently said something about me that just touched my heart deeply. “Flowers aren’t worried about doing anything. They just unfold revealing their unique fragrance and beauty. They soak in the sun, bend in the wind, bow their heads at night, and raise their heads with the sunrise. That is more than enough. I have experienced your beauty and fragrant soul in your words. Thank you.”
I think most times, it’s in the eyes of others, that I see how I standout.
Quantum Hermit 