Express Yourself

Often for those around me, not knowing my opinions on something is like trying to ignore the butts in a twerk video.

I also don’t have a problem repeating it five different ways until you get it, either.

By the way, I’m also totally right.

This hubris is most likely why I’m drawn to the academy (I love me a good soapbox), blogging (self-indulge much?), and public speaking (everyone look at me!).

Not surprisingly, it’s taken me a few years to arrive at the fact that this might not always be a good thing. And yet I still don’t really know how to shut my mouth.

This personality trait has gotten me in a bit of hot water in some work/relationship/public situations, but if I’m really honest I wouldn’t change it.

However, the difficult growth I’ve experienced and been exposed to – whether by my friends, family, or clients who find themselves homeless, abused, new arrivals in a strange country, or imprisoned – have all forced me to work on the opposite side of the coin: forgiveness and listening.

To value the interchange I am allowed to have with others when they choose to share their deepest convictions and most difficult times with me. To not only provide forgiveness and understanding to them, but to ask for it when I inevitably stick my stinky foot in my too-large mouth.

To remind myself again and again to really listen and respond thoughtfully – even if I completely disagree.

To provide the people I encounter with the grace that I have so often been offered in my most challenging times.

But, no matter what, I will always express myself.

[As a special bonus – my favorite “Express Yourself” creation; one of the only visual depictions of New Orleans that actually feels a lot like what I did when living there. Fair warning: Butts. Lots. Of. Butts.]

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My creation for “Express Yourself,” today’s Daily Post Challenge. Other participants include:

• Dapper Ducks (Expression) | photo potpourri
• breaking the barrier of sorts | wannabepoet
• BROKEN « MY WALL
• Daily Prompt: Express yourself – Time for another vacation | littlegirlstory
• Daily Prompt: Express Yourself | Under the Monkey Tree
• F You! | Crossroads
• Part 2 – Sang Out Loud | Shiwanidoez
• Duncan’s Monthly Special! #2 | Neva Samaki
• Expressed |
• If you love to walk | Nature Activities
• Running Lines | The Ambitious Drifter
• Unsp♡k∈n | ⓜ∈t•ⓐRVh∈∈•n✪iⓐ
• Daily Prompt: Express Yourself « Mama Bear Musings
• Thanks That Are, Are Better Than What Could Have Been And Never Was | The Jittery Goat
• Anniemation Floe
• Can anyone teach how to express Anger?? | મન ની વાત
• To my anonymous attacker | alienorajt
• To Write With a Broken Pencil is Pointless
• My.Vivid.Visions | Daily Prompt: Express Yourself – Heartbreak
• My brother | Ireland, Multiple Sclerosis & Me
• Daily Prompt: Express Yourself | The Story of a Guy
• Daily Prompt: Express Yourself | Completely Disappear
• Betrayal | dawnyhosking
• How To Write A Formal Letter Of Complaint « froodian pseudoanalysis
• Daily Prompt: Express Yourself « cognitive reflection
• Express yourself to respect yourself (TM Madonna) | I Didn’t Just Wake Up This Morning with a Craving
• Motherhood and Beyond
• Top of the world | smoke&mirrors
• Daily Prompt: Express Yourself | Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss
• Lost for words | The verbal hedge
• My Tongue Jammed | crookedeyebrows
• Getting It Out | Tony’s Texts
• Tongue jammed | crookedeyebrows
• What am I Trying to Say? | The Silver Leaf Journal
• No Credentials Required | Charron’s Chatter
• On tides and writing… | Wahine Wednesdays
• Express Yourself | The Magic Black Book
• Rob’s Surf Report
• Daily Prompt: Express Yourself | Crow Arrow, Inc.
• Express Myself- Not Today! | Dear Yolandi
• What You Were | Barefoot on Rainy Days
• Daily Prompt: PHOTOGRAPHIC EXPRESSION – ONE LOOK, 10,000 WORDS | SERENDIPITY
• Express what? | Randomlyabstract’s Blog
• Chicken wings | amateurxpress
• “Express Yourself” | Relax
• Expression… | The Wandering Wind…
• Expression- Five minutes of expressions in the life of a toddler. | Kansa Muse
• Stunning beauty | Life is great
• you and i shuttle | y
• Haiku Moment | Nicki
• Daily Prompt: Express Yourself | Awl and Scribe
• In which nothing is really related yet everything is? | There is no wisdom like frankness
• Daily Prompt: Express Yourself | tnkerr-Writing Prompts and Practice