The Human Filter

Whenever I encounter someone I admire–specifically someone whose work I admire, and especially someone whose work speaks to me in ways I’ve never experienced before…

I feel inspired.

I feel understood.

And I feel…

jealous?

Yeah, a little bit. (Not superproud of it, but there you go.)

But it’s more than that…

Sad?

Yes, maybe that’s more accurate. I feel sad that something important has been said and I wasn’t the one who got to say it.

Digging deeper…

I feel like wow, if this person exists in the world then why do I even need to be here? They’ve totally got this covered.

Which is funny (funny ha-ha as I tend to laugh at myself when I learn lessons over and over again), because while someone else might be able to say things that speak to the core of who I am, things that inspire and move me and make me feel not-alone…..they can’t say my things.

They can say things I wish were mine (and the wishing, well that’s a whole other story.)

But they really and truly can’t say my things.

At Havi’s Right People seminar last week (it was about business! with dancing! try explaining that at a dinner party) we talked about how bringing our own unique qualities to our work is so important.

And I realized that it’s not just a relief to let go of pretense and “be yourself.”

It’s not just that quirkiness is marketable.

It’s that no two of us individual humans will experience the same things in exactly the same way.

We are each our own filters for everything in this world.

Think of how many objects, images, ideas, concepts cross your path every day. Or just think about how big the freaking internet is.

Your options are endless. And yet you make connections, you see patterns, you like what you like.

There’s a reason you choose what you choose.

Everything about the life you have lived up until this point contributes to the specific color and shape of your filter.

And these things seem so obvious to you (and by you, I mean me too, I’m having a little problem with pronouns in this post) because it’s your filter. You look through it all the time.

So even when I encounter work so beautiful, that makes me shake my head up and down uncontrollably yes yes yes, that kills me that I didn’t create it…a million other people might see it or read it, but no one receives that transmission in the same way as I do. No one else grabs on and sinks in to the same parts of it, for the same reasons, as I do.

So, what specifically do you love about the stuff you love?

Does it seem so painfully obvious to you?

You (and, I) might want to try to put it into words, talk to some people, and see if it’s painfully obvious to them too.

My guess is No.

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