Real Self, Meet Ideal Self. But do try not to light anything on fire.

Overall, I rather like who I am as a person. I adore me. I don't think that this is egotistical. On the contrary, I believe this to be good, and healthy. Love starts from within and all that. Lots of people seem to miss the crucial step of learning to love and accept themselves. But it's necessary if one wants to approach the world with an open heart. Hrmf... I'm distracting myself again. Back to the topic, me! Anyways, I do my best to embrace who I am and to be mindful of my flaws without being overly critical. When I notice something about me that I don't like, I actively work to try to change it. Those who know me well know that one of the big things I want to change is my aversion to social situations involving people who I don't already know really well.

And I know that a lot of my online friends will be reading this and thinking, "Wait, what? You? Really? But... you posted that video!" Yes, me, really. And to those who didn't know about the video: Geez. Not that kind of video! Get your mind out of the gutter! Seriously.

My online self is my ideal self - confident, friendly, ebullient, kind, outspoken, fearless. It's rather easy to be everything I want to be from behind my keyboard. But I've had a lifetime's worth of experience that has led to some pretty frustrating social anxiety in person. I've been actively working to unlearn this - to place myself in social situations and not run away or shut down. I want so much to be able to display the abundance of joy and love that's a large part of how I define me.

I think I'm doing pretty well with this. Getting involved in the UC Davis Occupy movement was a wonderful choice. Inclusive, accepting group + strong uniting issues = win. I really hope that the friendships that are being built blossom and stuff. Or something. Stuff! I feel like every day I'm becoming more and more the social, engaged me I want to be. I still can't say "hi" to the people sitting next to me in class, but that's okay.

Someday.