Category: Twitter Thoughts

If I’ve ever asked you “What do you do?”, consider yourself part of my social experiment. Often, people respond with their job. Wait a minute…I didn’t ask, “What do you do for work?” or “What do you do to make money?” So why do people respond that way? Are we so defined by what we do for work that we automatically answer that way instead of really thinking about what we do…and even who we are?

I’ll admit, I answer with my work. Why? Because it’s easy. Well, that’s not entirely true as of recently. I usually stumble over my answer as I’m doing contract work. You’d think I’d have a great answer to this question, or at least practice my answer, as it’s one that is usually asked first when meeting people. Yeah, not so much. :S

So how would I answer “What do you do” if I really thought about it? I’d say:

• I clear my schedule for Oklahoma Sooner football on Saturdays.
• I wander around and taking photos, when I have my camera with me.
• I’m always looking for new music to check out, like Anjulie, Aranda, and Bitter:Sweet
• I karaoke. 😉

I think @avflox has a great point to compliment this thought:

Following @avflox’s suggestion, help me get to know you and tell me, “What do you REALLY do?”

I’ve been thinking a lot about trust lately as well and immediately favorited this quote from @thomasknoll when I saw it. There is so much to be said about trust…how it’s built, how it’s broken and how one person can screw it up for many others.

I’m a very trusting person. I like to trust that people are good until I know otherwise. Does this make me naive? Maybe, but I’d rather trust people than have my guard up 24/7 and never trust anyone. I feel like, even though there’s a risk in trusting, it’s one to be taken. 

Now, let me say that I believe there are different levels of trust. Trust in relationships is tricky and that’s a place where it takes me a while to really trust people. When I do, it means a lot. And when that trust is broken, it hurts a lot…for both people. Some of you know this, but when I moved to CA just over a year ago, it was to start a non-profit for young entrepreneurs with a person who I trusted very much, both as a friend and business partner. He knew a lot about me and for me, trusting him was worth more than the crappy salary we agreed on for me to move out here. (If you want a good laugh, just ask me how much it was.) 

We were business partners for 8+ months before I moved out, yet as soon as I got here, something was different. Working together was difficult and I wasn’t enjoying it. I didn’t feel like he trusted me anymore and I’ll be honest, my guard was up as well. I was miserable. Yet, continued to work on the company and eventually got excited about it again. 

I won’t go into details, but I was contacted by another company soon after I moved out who had a better offer. I told the company I owed it to my partner to discuss it with him first. And I did…and he was not happy. I can’t blame him, but I hoped as a friend, he would want what was best for me, even if that meant ending our working relationship. We tried discussing options, but in the end, I had to make the choice that was best for me and that was to move on to a new company.

Now…with all that being said, I hoped we could remain friends. Not the case. We haven’t talked since May 2008. And that hurts. I couldn’t believe that he would erase me as a friend from his life, which is what he did. However, as I’m recently going through similar things, I can see where it was probably easier to totally erase me from his life than to try to trust me again.

And yes, we trusted each other and I broke that trust. Was I wrong for breaking it? I don’t think I was as I was looking out for myself, as we all have to do. But he did trust me…he trusted me to rock this dream of his and make it a reality…and I bailed.

I was hurt too through all of this. I lost a very good friend who, as frustrating as he may have been at times, has a certain charisma about him that makes up for it. Was he always a good friend…that’s debatable. We all have our days, right?

Because of that experience, I’m careful of who I trust personally as friends and in relationships. Why? Because it hurts too much when that trust is broken and honestly, I can’t handle that, as I’m learning again at this very moment. The pain that comes from broken trust is too much to bear. Sucks that it sometimes keeps me from experiencing new things, but it is what it is. I’ve been hurt too many times to think otherwise.

Trust…the new currency. Has a nice ring, doesn’t it?

If you know me, you know that Twitter is a part of my life. I often “favorite” tweets so I can go back to them later. The only problem is that Twitter doesn’t make this easy to do. Instead, I’m going to start posting Twitter Thoughts. Depending on how I’m feeling and what I’m thinking, this could be just a snapshot of the tweet or it could include a blog post. Take it or leave it!

So, for my first Twitter Thoughts post:

This is something I’ve been thinking about more and more lately. So often, I am overwhelmed with work, mostly because of the pressure I put on myself to be a perfectionist and a workaholic. That’s the worst combination.

**Pardon the interruption–I just checked in to my work email and answered something. Why?!? I’m in the middle of doing something for myself, yet I allow work to interrupt me…**

A few months ago, I took some time to visit my hometown and best friend ever, Tiffany, in Oklahoma City and then went to Austin to visit some of my other bestest friends. I constantly felt like I needed to be working, because there were always emails to be answered and schedules to maintain. However, I came to the realization that even though I wasn’t 100% on vacation, it didn’t mean that I couldn’t take some time to hang out with the people I was there to visit. I was soooo hesitant to float the river with a few friends on a weekday, mostly because it meant I’d be away from email and my cell phone for a few hours. Yet, I finally gave in and did it. And you know what, the world did not come to an end. In fact, I only had 2 emails that came in during the time I was on the river.

As Pam said in her tweet, it’s not about money or possessions…it’s about moments. As I look back, I realize I’ve missed out on lots of moments for reasons like work, fear, finances, and time, but as I’m getting older, I’m realizing that I only have one life and I need to make the most of it. Now, don’t go gettin’ crazy…that doesn’t mean you’ll see me bungee jump anytime soon. 😉

What about you? Are you living life for money and possessions or for moments? Is there a way to balance between the two?