[I wrote most of this earlier today, and in re-reading this now it truly makes no sense. But - we shall let it stand - all drafts welcome - as we do.]
There are some ways to introduce ourselves that have absolutely nothing to do with who we are and share nothing important or valuable about who we are.
(FYI I hate ice breakers when with a group of people I don’t know and don’t trust yet. And ALWAYS seek an answer to the ice breaker prompt that might sound interesting but also shares nothing that I value about myself. That shit’s under lock and key. Never mind my rambling on here.)
But sometime there is something to be said for sharing *something* in conversation or just showing up. I file that under the tab for “practicing using your voice” because sometimes (especially for the scary stuff) that action need regular practice.
So here - I offer you this. How would you introduce yourself using only the last thing someone said to you (before you read this).
Here’s mine:
That toilet seat might be wet.
Yes, in my new found gym attendance I regularly take Monday night aquatic boot camp. Imagine 20-30 women, I am the youngest and I bet the oldest is twice my age, splashing around forcefully for 50 minutes. It’s the best. And honestly moving my body in the gravitationally safe space provided by water is helping me learn and trust new ways of moving. (But that’s another story.)
Today, after class, we all dripped the short distance from the gym pool to the women’s locker room. There are only two little toilet stalls in the locker room, and one was already full. One of my class mates walked into the open stall. I stood outside waiting. The woman from my class walked out of the stall, right past me, and then we she was just over my shoulder she shouted “That toilet seat might be wet".
I can’t wait, and am trying to manifest, this level of no-fucks-given. Calling it like it is. Just the facts ma’am.
So, with that (a wet toiled seat), which I dried and then re-wet with my own post-pool butt and suit (and dried again) is it. That’s all for today.
What do you have to say…or - what was the last thing someone said to you?
That’s it,
vanessa
P.S. Tomorrow we got our April theme (which I already want to change!)
There is no way I can ever remember what the last thing someone said to me was!! But I will be trying to, from now on. I LOVE THIS. All the visuals, and the visceral feeling of sitting down with a swimming-wet butt. May we all have this freedom, always.