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Gettin' Jiggy At The Pity After-Party


Over the past six months at AOL, one topic of personal reflection is upon my online skills. I'll be the first to tell you that I'm a "rick-of-all-trades...master-of-none" in the skills department.

I don't consider myself a Graphic Artist, although I know my way around Photoshop and can create a variety of online graphics. I don't consider myself a Web Designer, although I can lay out a site the way I'd like it to appear and function. I don't consider myself a Web Programmer, although I know my way around several web languages.


Each of these skills are job titles with which some people are vastly talented. More often, there are webmonkeys, such as myself, who know a little about a lot of things...but not a lot about any one of those things.

Which brings me to today's question: when's the last time you sent yourself an invitation to your pity party? I can honestly say the e-vite hasn't popped in my inbox lately. And its not the reason for writing this post. But you likely recall a recent time of being bummed out, down, feeling low, or thinking you're a loser.

Fact is, there's always someone who's more talented (and even less talented) than you at something. Whether it's your job, parenting, spousing (hey, a new word!), public speaking, blogging, games, hunting, gardening...the list goes on. Someone is ALWAYS better AND worse at something than you.

It's difficult to avoid these parties. We secretly enjoy sending out the invites to ourselves and others. Misery loves company. We attempt to find others who will likely bring us to some level of satisfaction. How long we choose to hang at the party and what we do at the after-party is our choice.

If you don't feel you're good enough at something - think of ways to improve and try one. If you fail, try something else. Through your successes and failures you'll enrich your life and likely improve in that which you feel inadequate. Or you'll determine that the subject isn't really important after all.

I've created dozens of websites over the years and most have been redesigned. I've longed to have more time to improve my web skills but I've reach a point where I'm okay with being a webmonkey. Not that I've settled for that...I'm embracing it more these days. I've recognized that my talents and joy is in empowering others to express their creativity and providing resources and guidance for them to accomplish this.

If time allows to grow on specific web skills, great! If not, no worries. I enjoy the challenges of the day. Perhaps you need to attend your own after-party...and realize how blessed and rich your life truly is. There'll always be pity parties but you don't have to RSVP.

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