You wouldn’t worry so much about what others thought of you if you knew how seldom they did. – Phil McGraw
I laughed when I read this in McGraw’s column in the latest issue of O. (It actually was his father who said this to him as a boy.) It’s such a perfect, easy-to-remember quote that gets at my problem with wondering who’s going to be impressed with me, or worrying that others might think that I look like a doofus, as my sons would say.
These are all things related to my looks that I’m somewhat self-conscious about: my increasingly hairless legs; my skinniness; my jaw’s overbite; skin blotches in various places. I’m sure I’ll be adding more as I age.
So it’s laughable to think about how much time other people in my life spend thinking about these bodily flaws of mine, whether close friends, family members, co-workers or acquaintances. But it’s even more ridiculous to think how much time all these people I know might spend each day being impressed with me. Which is one of the ego traps of writing these Joe to Gos, or publishing any kind of writing, I suppose. Can I be humble and still be an author?
I was inspired to read the Q&A with Mitch Albom, author of Tuesdays with Morrie, in the current issue of Time magazine. He appears to be unaffected by the cultural worship he gets as a bestselling book author, now going on three years. It’s inspiring.