Thursday, July 26, 2012

Influence, Advice and Living Without

I'm attending a gathering of individuals in a few weeks. One of the requirements is to provide a profile of oneself in the form of answers to three questions. Having just written a full page profile of myself for an in house publication I'm kind of over this self analysis process. The questions are:

Choose 3 women of influence (from anywhere and anytime) that you would invite to dinner and why.
What 3 pieces of advice would you give to your 16 year old self?
What 3 things can't you live without?

I laid in the very hot bath and contemplated these questions. I can hardly come up with anyone or anything for the first two. Like most things I do I'm probably thinking way too hard and trying to answer them more seriously than they're intended. Perhaps they're just meant to be lighthearted; but what if they're not?

To be honest, I couldn't come up with 3 women of influence that I'd invite to dinner. Are they meant to have had an influence on me personally in the way I see things or the choices I've made or is it that they are/were of influence in the world in general? See - I think too hard about the question and get bogged down in the intended meaning. Why can't I just pick the first 3 that come into my head and move on to question 2? No-one is going to care who my 3 are. Now if the question had been about 3 men - well that's easy - Bruce Springsteen for writing 'that' song; Lance Armstrong for winning 7 Tours de France unaided by drugs and Gibbo to cook the steak and serve the drinks and keep the conversation flowing because I would just be gobsmacked and sitting there grinning like an idiot in such company.

I might give my 16 year old self some advice but I'm sure she wouldn't listen. Firstly, it's ok to be yourself; don't worry about what you think others might think about you - you're probably wrong and might be surprised to learn the truth. Secondly, be braver; don't be so timid. Go be an air hostess or a jillaroo if that's what you really want to do. Thirdly....it's still coming to me.

Three things I can't live without - well seriously, it's Gibbo, Meg and Drew - anything else is just stuff, possessions and we can all live without them. But answering tongue in cheek - it's my iPhone (so I can keep in close contact with the three things I just mentioned); my macbook (so I can blog and read my favourite blogs) and third.....stuck again.

Obviously I need to have a few more steaming hot baths.


1 comment:

Fiona said...

Would love you to post your actual written response when it all comes to you. I can't think of three women either, though I do admire Dr Phyllis Cilento.
I'd probably tell my sixteen year old self the same thing ... stop worrying about what you think other people are thinking. In fact I'd probably tell my forty year old self the same! And I'll probably still be telling my fifty year old self!
Hope Drew's travelling well. Look forward to hearing about his adventure. And good on you with the bike riding, one year I might tag along ... yeah right, my poor bike hasn't been touched for months.