Who’s Awesome?! (Rare Weekend Edition)
Creatives can be insecure. Really, really insecure. Like meltdown-in-the-fiction-aisle-at-Target-because-your-novel-will-never-be-as-good-as-Snooki’s insecure. Not that I would know anything about that specific incident.
{ahem}
The funny thing is that, although insecure, we can also be very egotistical. I don’t know if that springs from our insecurities. Or if it is because we’re inward thinking. Oh, I don’t know. I only attended half of my psychology classes in college. The point is, we sometimes get into what I call “Diva Mode”.
While in Diva Mode, we may be heard saying the following things…
~”I deserve to be noticed.”
~”Why did that piece of kah kah get published? My book is WAY better!”
~”Where is my LATTE????”
We may also be observed doing the following…
~Promoting ourselves to the kid taking our order in the drive-thru at Taco Bell.
~Talking incessantly about our current project and forgetting to ask how YOU are.
~Promoting our blog/book/website/etc. on YOUR Facebook page/blog/website (I’ve got a really funny story about this that involves Lisa Samson…you know…Lisa Samson. Lisa Samson is, like, really BIG in the Christian publishing world. Lisa Samson won the Christy about 50 times {that’s like winning an Oscar, basically}. Well, Lisa Samson is my friend on Facebook and sometimes Lisa Samson even “likes” what I write in the comments of Lisa Samson’s status updates. Lisa Samson even wished me a happy birthday…on Facebook…but it still counts. Lisa Samson. Lisa. Samson.).
~Dropping names. (Lisa Samson)
~Comparing ourselves to the greats. (Lisa Samson)
~When giving advice, we begin by saying, “Well, when my first novel was published”…even when we’re asked what flavor of salad dressing should be served at dinner.
~Practicing for our next head shot photo shoot by posing in the mirror or taking pictures of ourselves with Instagram and plastering them all over Facebook and Twitter.
~Stealing somebody else’s thunder instead of congratulating them (ie., When they post about a success, we talk about OUR successes and how great WE are)
Okay. Clearly, there is a lot of Diva Mode behavior that goes on. I wonder if it’s sprung from a combination of pride and jealousy and feelings of inadequacy. We can get so wound up, thinking that we’re the best. That we deserve something from the world. It owes us because we are madly talented.
Let me tell you something. The world owes us nothing. And when we believe that it does, we become unbearable. Nobody wants to be around a Diva. Trust me. I’ve been one. Last week. It’s embarrassing. It came down to the fact that I forgot to be grateful.
William Shakespeare (a good buddy of mine…just kidding) once wrote…
“Blow, blow thou winter wind. Thou art not so unkind as man’s ingratitude…”
Ingratitude equals self-importance. Pride.
Gratitude equals humility.
Humility congratulates others…even when we’re disappointed by something in our lives. Humility listens…even when we REALLY want to share about ourselves. Humility is more concerned with relationships…even with those who can not further our careers (even though I do think that Lisa Samson is a very nice person). Humility serves others…even when it inconveniences us (or cuts into our writing time). Humility doesn’t feel the need to compare. Humility realizes that its poop stinks just like everybody else’s…and that it’s okay.
Humility knows that we are all human beings, created in the Image of our Creator.
It knows that it isn’t about me. Or you. Or Lisa Samson.
But that, really, it’s about that Creator of whose Image we bear.
Humility never really pays attention to how that makes her shine.
susiefinkbeiner.com 
This was so funny and a little truthful (I’m winking at myself in the mirror as I say this, not really I’m a terrible winker). Any way Beth Moore says being completely insecure and thinking we’re the “worst” is really just another form of selfishness both attitudes are inward looking and self absorbed. She is so smart and a good friend of mine (just kidding again sorry).
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I would TOTALLY agree with Beth Moore. I think Lisa Samson would, too. 🙂
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“It’s all about me, ’cause I’m all I can see when I look in the mirror; then it cracks!”
Sorry for the idle poetry, but you hit a nerve. I was reminded of the other reason I write: it was the only thing I ever seemed to any good at when I was a kid. It was the only thing I ever remembered getting compliments for. And when that is the only thing that brings a boost to our self-esteem, we build up a longing for it, a deep desire to repeat the experience of having someone praise us for what we have done. Especially when our strongest memories are of all the times we failed at something else. So if someone says that our writing is not good, or lacking in some area, we take it very personally. Our writing is our self. Instead of getting our pride and joy from our status as God’s child, we still want to get it from our own talents and achievements.
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SO true, Rob! Wow. I think you are absolutely right.
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Ooh! Let me practice:
God has given you so many qualities of His (as the Creator Father, as the Savior Jesus and with the Power of the Holy Spirit in you) – creativity, passion, determination, enthusiasm, love, humor, relating with others, revelation, articulation… and that’s just the surface stuff! How could you ever be prideful when all your best is directly from Him? You are beautiful and talented because you reflect your Father! I am grateful because you have embraced your inheritance and the overflow blesses us all.
Thank you for writing this. We’re all a Deva in the hands of a loving Father who laughs when we realize that He’s caught us singing in the mirror again. He knows that we’re just trying too hard, again…
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Um…having you been spying on me again? You know I love playing lounge singer while admiring myself in the mirror.
“Ding, dong the witch is dead…”
“Are you calling me a witch?”
“No! I’m calling you a ‘ding dong’!”
Love you, Bep. I love the imagery of God laughing at our Diva moments. 🙂
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Too funny. I actually witnessed a friend in diva mode promoting herself to one of those street musicians you see in major cities with a beat up guitar case open on the ground for spare change.
I’m pretty sure no one has ever gone viral because a street musician “Liked” their Facebook page… 🙂
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Oh…that’s funny! And pretty awkward!
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This is great! Definitely going to start following your blog!
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Thank you, JJ! I’m going to check out your blog for sure!
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Great post, Susie, and funny too.
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Thank you, Dina! 🙂
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I love this post. Funny. I always say that insecurity and arrogance aren’t opposites, they are the same. Both are equally consumed with self, and both are equally annoying. (although personal I’d rather be around one more than the other). Both are forms of pride (being too concerned with self). Great post.
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You’re absolutely right, Julie! And it’s all a distraction from the work we’re supposed to be doing. Thank you. 🙂
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i just saw this, Susie! Gurl, you crack me up! I’m so glad we’re facebook friends! It always makes my day when I hear from you!
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Ha! Awesome. The name dropping paid off ;). Thanks for stopping by…and for not filing a restraint order.
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