My name is Lyndall and I have an obsession. I haven't found an 'anonymous' group that is ready to hear my guilty confession. I'm not even sure one exists. So you, dear innocent reader, are to be from this day forward, the receiver of my deep disclosures. And you'll also be the giver of your own. (Yes of course you have a choice in that...but for the sake of my obsession, I'm really hoping you'll choose to go with it).
Imagine yourself if you will, seated in a circle of other highly impressive but at the same time, completely ordinary and sometimes even boring human beings. (I understand. I get it. I hear your internal cry, "I hate being ordinary - I want to be special!" But let's be honest, no matter who you are, how much money you have, what job you do...we all poo and wee and fart. And it's important to my obsession that we keep that in mind).
To the right and left of you, are people whom you are yet to meet or engage with. Because you're feeling a little weird about being amongst a group of strangers and wondering why exactly you're here, your mind is rife with judgment of those around you - based on any detail you can lock onto. Maybe it's the white shoes and black stockings they somehow decided was the best choice for today's special event. Or the very chic man-bun that is missing a little yeast, or maybe it's the blue eyeshadow and make up line under their chin that they just haven't blended properly. Let's be honest. You're furtively searching (and unapologetically scorning) the minutiae of each person based solely on what immediately jumps to your anxious eyes. Each of us sits quietly waiting our turn - our minds turning over all of the funny lines that we could open with. Our hands clenched tightly in our laps. We all start in the same way. "My name is [insert your name], and I am...". We enter my obsession together.
One part of my obsession relates to food courts. To be honest, I'm not a particular fan of the actual food at food courts- (other than perhaps the more fancy pants delights of a venue like Melbourne's Emporium). I can assure you though, oh yes I can, that there is something much more alluring about the food court experience than the food you find there! Another part relates to the never ending delights of reality television (and hold your very special horses my friend, this is sometimes even regardless of how it is edited!) (Yep, you got it. I'm liv-ing on the edge!). And at a whole other level of my obsession, there's the bit where I actually get paid to have the privilege of indulging in my most precious fascination.
So I'm now hoping that I've fired up your thinking sufficiently to be wracking your brain for the connections and meaning. What do food courts, reality television and whatever this chick gets paid to do have in common? And in particular, what could be so common and yet outstanding about these things that someone has actually taken the time to write a blog on it. And why should you care anyway?
So here's the thing. Remember that circle that you were plopped into at the beginning of this blog with with all those strange people? Remember how each of you were holding your breath and waiting for me to disclose what exactly this serious obsession is? Well what you need to understand is that you are, in fact, just it. You, my fellow human, are my secret obsession.
Every single one of you holds a story that, up until now, few people if anyone have ever heard or understood. Inside that story are the secret, juicy details that, when you add them altogether, make up the person who sits there today. The person beyond the white shoes and the man bun. It is the story of their lives and loves, their triumphs and disappointments, their anxieties and their delights. The stuff they know and the big bits that completely do their head in. It is about what makes them laugh, cry, relate, speak, listen, engage, play, anger, ignite in the way that they do. And it's the same for you. You have a story like that too - and so do I. Just like a Thai market stall...same same, but different.
In case you're still confused, I'll just come straight out and say it like it is. I'm obsessed with people. I am the person who you'll catch curiously watching you as you chow down on your dumpling. I'll look away at first. I might even go a bit red in the face. But regardless of anything else that happens, I'll always and forever be fascinated by you and your story. And to be 100% honest (because that's what we do in circles like these) that's just the tip of the iceberg.
You are not my only obsession. (I know that must be a relief - after all, we're still sizing up each other's choice of outfits). What really gets me going, what cooks my veges more than anything else in the world, is my desire for your story, and the story of everyone else who sits in that circle to be better understood, less judged against some ridiculous perfectionist paradigm, and held with greater empathy.
So how it's going to proceed from here is this. While I'm waiting for you to take your turn to share your story, I'll start by sharing some of what I've learned about people while sitting and indulging in my obsession. Sometimes it will be stories from the food court, often it will be based on what all of us can see and understand if we look a little more closely at reality television. And in general, it will be about trying to get a better grip on just how spectacular and intriguing we human beings really are. Because I believe that once we get a grip like that, we stand a much better chance of getting through this wild ride of life in significantly better shape. What say you?
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