“Self love is a good thing. But self awareness is more important.”
One thing I love about stand-up comedy is it packages social truths within jokes, making us willing to digest concepts at which we might otherwise turn up our noses. Nobody does this better than Louis CK. I feel like I’m constantly quoting this guy here and on twitter, but I came across this bit recently that I think makes good sense of the way we talk about ourselves.
For some reason, it’s become acceptable, even encouraged, to publicly make proclamations like “I’m awesome,” or “I’m AMAZING.” Putting aside the fact we’re almost constantly gutting the words “awesome” and “amazing” of any real meaning, these statements are not ones anyone should make, ever. Because whether we’re “awesome” or not is not up to us…it’s up to everyone else. You saying it does nothing, other than assure the rest of us you’re almost certainly not awesome.
It’s not up to you. We should strive to BE awesome and amazing, and not an asshole. We shouldn’t tell other people we are. Think of anyone in the world you respect greatly – has that person ever told you they’re “amazing?” Probably not. Because the only people who say it are the ones who know they need to.