Aug 4, 2009
New Podcast Episode: Let It All Hang Out. Or Don’t.
I’ve posted the 3rd installment of Matthew T. Grant’s Smallish Circle Podcast. Although the original concept of this thing was to feature my amazing friends and amazing stories from their amazing lives, this episode actually focuses on the trouble I’ve had convincing the aforementioned friends to “appear” on the podcast.
I understand that I’m more extroverted than others and generally more willing to share the embarrassing and even dodgy aspects of my life and character in public or semi-public forums. At the same time, I recognize this willingness as a psychological tick, a residual trace of the adolescent need to express oneself in hopes of being accepted for “who you are.”
While I appreciate it when people are open about themselves, I do not view openness as a moral imperative. I think it’s fine, even commendable, to be discrete and save one’s private revelations for one’s more intimate relations. At the same time, I really need juicy material for this podcast or it’s gonna go nowhere at the speed of light.
If you’d like to hear me talking about this and much more more, the latest episode of the p’cast can be found right here. If you would like to catch future episodes of Matthew T. Grant’s Smallish Circle, subscribe via iTunes.
Errata: This episode begins with me explaining the idea behind #onewordwednesday. As it should quickly become clear, I’m actually talking about the idea behind the Smallish Circle Podcast itself.
Image Courtesy of thefuturistics.
Apparently, a Ms. Ann Handley (http://www.annhandley.com/) tried to leave a comment on this here post but was foiled by a suspiciously nefarious technical error. Here is her comment as I received it:
Hi — So I just listened to your latest podcast.. I tried to leave a comment but got a 404.. repeatedly. And annoyingly! Check into that, will you? : )
Anyway — I was going to comment that I disagree with you. Maybe some people *are* afraid. I don’t know, because I really can’t guess what motivates others. But I think generally what motivates people to share — or I should say, what motivates me to share, or over-share, depending on your perspective of what I do on annhandley.com, is less about wanting attention for myself, or wanting the spotlight, than it is about me feeling a need to connect with others, and in doing so to make me and (I hope) them, feel like we are all a little less crazy, or a little less alone.
So in that way, it’s in part about me but also about them. At least, in the best case. I write so I can understand myself — and I publish it (on a blog, but maybe some day in a larger venue) in the hopes that others relate to what I write and that maybe they can relate to it, too. Maybe it helps them understand themselves. And maybe it brings us all a little closer to the surface. A little closer to the vast expanse of air.
(Otherwise, if it was all about me, I’d just leave it on the pages of a diary and be done with it. That would be easier, in a way. Woudn’t it?)
The best thing is when I’m reading what someone else wrote, or produced, or sang, or tapped out, or whatever… and I think, “Ah… yes, that’s what it is….” When I recognize myself, or I am nudged to recognize myself in a different way.. but at the same time recognize a larger humanity. I strive to offer the same.
It seems to me that everyone — or most people — slap on a kind of veneer. I used to find that disappointing, because I used to wish people would present all of themselves, and not just an edited, or partially illuminated, self. But I’ve come to think that it’s too hard, really, for more people to walk around all the time with their inner selves hanging out. It makes us too vulnerable, I guess. So like the way a hard shellac extends the life of a wooden chair, I guess people, too, need a bit of a protective coating.