My favourite thing about going to the hairdresser is reading my stars. I usually try to act cool, and flick through the rest of the magazine first, but really all I want to do is navel gaze a while.
The Mirror of Venus (Edward Burne-Jones)
So when a post promises to ‘Type’ my blog personality at the click of a button, it’s hard to resist.
If you haven’t heard of it already, check out Susie Lindau’s post, where she explains all about the research, the creator, and where you go to find out your ‘Type’.
When I first keyed in my web address and pressed ‘Typealyze’, it came out with ‘Inspirer’.
I’ll admit, that sounded nice. Not that I set out on my blog to be an Inspirer – I had no idea what my purpose should be when I started blogging.
But as I read through the profile, I started having this uneasy feeling it was describing someone else.
In real life, I have to tell you, I’m not all that inspiring. I’m mostly quiet and dishevelled and roaming about the house wondering, “Why do I ask why?”.
Until recently, my whole reason for being was “Expect the worst, and you’re never disappointed…”
Yeah. That’s inspiring.
So a couple of days later I went back to Typealyze myself again. Incidentally, it was after last week’s performance anxiety post.
For some reason, it decided I’m now a ‘Performer’!
Wow. That was easy.
The thing is, the last time I did anything close to perform was when I was about five years old.
My sister had this bright idea to dress me up in an angel costume and make me perform at the local Christmas carols.
For extra cuteness, I would sing “Away in a Manger“, accompanied by big sis on the piano.
All I remember is a sea of faces. Missing the cue to the start of the song. Twice. And then somehow quivering my way through the rest of it until I could run away off stage – a perfectly fine carol now dead to me.
Nope. I’m definitely not a performer.
Cupid at The Masked Ball (Franz Stuck)
But the whole exercise reminds me of an issue raised in Coleen Patrick’s recent post on blog optimism.
As bloggers, we have the privilege of controlling what people do and don’t see about us. We project an image of ourselves – is it really us, or are we just a bunch of posers spouting empty words?
Sometimes I feel like I’m faking it. I strive to inspire when I feel anything but inspired myself. And that’s when I realise something.
From the start of each week to the end when I put out my next post, I’m just a little bit different than I was the week before.
Maybe we have to fake it a little bit, to make it real.
Maybe it’s not even about what’s real or what isn’t.
Maybe this is just us – on the way to being who we want to be.
How much of you is in your Avatar? Do you sometimes feel you’re faking it? Does it even matter?
Alarna Rose Gray 