Walking Contradiction

Seven down, 359 to go.

As I consider the seven posts from this past week, I’m a little embarrassed. They seem disjointed and random. In time, solid themes may develop, but until then, you may find yourself reading the discord of my vast musings.

If a streamlined compilation of labels is refined to define my work here, I’ll gladly accept it, but I am skeptical. After all, I am a contradiction.

I love backpacking, walking through a dense fog through the woods, and sleeping on the ground, as much as I love getting dressed up in sparkles, heels and make-up for an evening of dinner, dancing, or the arts. It’s the reality of my distinct appreciation of simple pleasures and my fine tastes (if I must say so myself).

I’m adventurous but like to follow the rules.

I’m a dancer, a runner, and a yogi.

I am passionate about local food, physical activity as a key to unlock emotional energy, and trails as a national resource for recreation and nature. I excel at networking, listening, problem solving, and singing silly songs. I’m good at listening and accepting, and knowing when it is the right time to offer advice.

Sometimes it’s hard for me to reconcile the dichotomy of all my interests. There’s no singular bumper sticker that sums me up. There’s no category that I fit into.

I think our buzzword culture makes us want to put everything in neat little containers with strict labels: Republican, Democrat, hippie, hipster, professional, punk, conservative, geek, liberal, bum. But those words can’t possibly capture all the minutia of our individual thoughts, ideas, opinions, and emotional experience. If we step back and look at the labels we’ve self-imposed, we might just discover that country music has some redeeming qualities or that people who are seemingly different than us aren’t so different after all. They’re made up of a variety of interests and aspects, too.

Bumper stickers are often the vehicle (no pun intended) for us to communicate who we are and what we stand for, but I don’t have one on my care. Nope. Not. a. one.

For a while I had one for the Appalachian Trail because I love it so much, but it shriveled up and fell off.  Then I sold that car anyway. Even still, I won’t replace it.

There isn’t a handful of bumper stickers that capture what I feel are the most important aspects of who I am. I am too many things, and at some point you can have too many bumper stickers. Plus, how would I prioritize the most important aspects of myself to highlight?

I guess that’s what it comes down to with the blog, too, but rather than leave a blank canvas, I’ve decided to go nuts with the messages (and creating new labels). I’ll post here all the seemingly random and disjointed things I ponder, because I hold it all together. I am a walking contradiction, after all.

Let’s Talk Labels:

If you have bumper stickers what do they say?

If you could make your own bumper sticker, what would it say?

If you don’t have any (won’t have any) why not?