All the World's a Stage

It’s important to be aware of how you present yourself to the world, because as the great Shakespeare once said, “all the world’s a stage.”

Face to face communication is hard for some people. Think about everything involved: articulating your thoughts without stumbling on your words, making and keeping eye contact, being an active listener, etc. At least those are the things that I have trouble with sometimes. But the nuances of face to face communication--expressions, reactions, hand gestures--make it all worthwhile. 

Writing in my own personal space has been cathartic thus far. Sometimes just writing what I'm feeling or experiencing in a blank Word doc is enough to make me feel better. I usually end up deleting everything that I've written, but it's nice to have that space to release my thoughts in. I don't have to worry about anyone seeing it or picking it apart for grammar and usage. I don't have to think, "does this make sense to anyone else but me?" because it's solely for my eyes. When I write for a public space, I try to make everything perfect, witty, and tailored to what I think will get the best response. I'm hoping as time goes on that I'll stop caring as much about things that don't matter and instead will focus on discovering what kind of person I really am, as Luella B. Cook puts it.

Throughout the article, I found a lot of good tidbits of information that I'm planning on taking to heart.

"Discussion has become a kind of sporting event, governed more by the desire to win than to know that others think or how they feel."

I've been in one too many conversations where everyone involved was trying to talk over someone else. It's annoying, it sucks for those who aren't as dominant in these types of situations, and it breeds a bunch of bad listeners. I appreciate how Cook ties this in with her previous metaphors and explains that we need to view good listening as a "receptive attitude" and "active skill."