inner nerd

A ways back, maybe a couple years ago, I read an article by Martha Beck in the Oprah magazine that was about perfectionism. Do you know any perfectionists? I sure don't. (clears throat) Anyways... In the article, Martha Beck suggests you put your inner perfectionist in a corner when she gets to be too much. I liked this idea - a humorous way to detach and put your perfectionism in perspective. Last night, I decided I needed to do that with my inner nerd - the voice in my head that harkens back to middle school and high school and into college and possibly beyond. This is the voice that admires a quality in somebody else, wishes I also had that quality, and if I don't have it, my inner nerd reminds me how "uncool" I am. It's quite funny when you write it out. So my message to my inner nerd is to go back to middle school and get over yourself, seriously. Embrace your good qualities and if you admire a quality in somebody else so much, either adopt it for yourself or don't. If you don't, that doesn't mean that the person with the admirable quality is cool and that you're still just a middle school nerd. My inner nerd also needs to be reminded that she doesn't have to be good at everything. She seems to be pretty good friends with my inner perfectionist. Anyways, haven't you realized that nerds are the cool people by the time you get to adulthood?

So I'm sending my inner nerd to sit in the corner to ponder the bigger questions of life. She's a bit awkward with glasses and frizzy hair and not quite the right clothes. She's quiet and unsure of herself. Sometimes I love her and sometimes, she needs to go to the corner and be quiet because she's not being very helpful.