Why You Should Never Curb Your Enthusiasm
My enthusiasm is jarring to a lot of people. I've been called perky, nerdy, bubbly, peppy, positive, annoying, too much, and a host of other adjectives. I get excited about a lot of things a lot of the time.I was brought up in a family of sci-fi nerds who lacked vocal filters. Whatever my parents were interested in became the family obsession, and we weren't afraid to talk about it. There was Star Trek, and then there was Willow, and then there was Firefly... OMG Firefly!!!! They still have parties devoted to watching every single episode of that show... and then the movie.Needless to say, their zest for life and all things magical rubbed off on me. I got really into certain music and books as a kid. So much so that I started to get noticed for it.That's when the teasing started, and that's when I started to smother my zealousness. I let what others think about me affect the way I reacted to life, and it led me to become negative and self-conscious. I retreated into myself so that I wouldn't be "too much" for anyone to handle.
It took me another 15 years to realize that my enthusiasm wasn't something I needed to hide; it was something to release like a Dragon Ball Z Super Explosive Wave.
When I started getting into fitness, I began to embrace my enthusiasm. I started to enjoy my life a heck of a lot more because of it, and it helped me expand my business by refusing to censoring it.As I released my eagerness out into the world, I found that yes, it was too much for some people to handle, but I also brought more excited, happy people into my life and business. People wanted to be around me because I beamed my energy from the inside out.My enthusiasm set me apart in a world of people who have been told that being too loud or too eager is a sign of weakness.We're told that we can't want or love anything too much because what if we don't get it? We'd be crushed. So we have to play it cool. We have to let the world know that we were never really that into it anyway. That way they'll never know that we're hurting.
Enthusiasm is not weakness. It is a sign that you care, that you're alive and that you're awake.
It's the way you experience your world. So what if you wear it on your sleeve for everyone to see? Some people hide theirs away, but you don't have to be like them.If you love something, scream it. Jump up and down about it. Sparkle and shine about it because that is exactly how you're going to get it!To let yourself feel desire and love fully (which is exactly what enthusiasm is) is to allow the possibility of having it into your world.
Enthusiasm is allowing yourself to celebrate at any time for any reason.
Enthusiasm is smashing down the walls of society's definition of "normal."
Enthusiasm is expressing yourself in a way that is all yours.
It's scary to be enthusiastic in a world of too-cool-for-school. There's the fear of falling harder if we don't get what we want, or that we'll scare people away. Those fears are valid and deserve to be addressed.
TRUTH: If you don't get what you're after, it may hurt more because people will know how much you wanted it, and that can be embarrassing.
ARGUMENT: You can feel like a failure having been vocal about what you want, but putting a cap on your excitement in the first place could hurt your chances of getting it at all. If you don't show the world what you want, you won't get it. You have to ask. You have to show interest. If you smother that, you also smother your opportunities.
TRUTH: You will scare some people away.
ARGUMENT: You'll scare people who aren't comfortable with self expression and undiluted emotion. And that's ok. You will draw more like-minded, enthusiastic people into your life. When it comes down to it, who do you really want to hang out with?
To this day, I am very sensitive to people's reactions to my ebullient greetings and feverish adoration for all things X-Men, but I'm working on letting it go. I'm working on being me in all my peppy glory and not giving a hoot if someone's not a fan of that.It's the way I experience life. Isn't that why we're all here?Stay strong,Amy