I’m writing this on my phone in the locker room. I wanted to get it down quickly before I talked myself out of it.
The locker room is a funny place. People are vulnerable, by definition, because you change clothes, get naked, take showers… and, all of this, around perfect strangers. It’s weird… or totally normal… depending on your culture and personality.
But in American locker rooms—at least mine—our awkward vulnerability is on full display. For instance, the guys across from me just had the most amazing interaction:
Macho guy in towel: “You doing anything cool this weekend?”
Naked guy still wet from shower, avoiding eye contact: “Nope. Just working and catching up on sleep. You?” He also had a thick European accent.
Macho guy went on to explain the multiple girls he was dating, the car he would be driving, and the places he’d be staying. It was over the top. He had something he felt he needed to prove—or compensate for—but naked guy just nervously engaged with seeming admiration/jealousy. I had to laugh… and write.
It makes me wonder… When do I feel vulnerable and what do I do in response? Where am I boasting and proving? When am I jealous of the guy with a lambo?
And what if I could get to the place in my life where I was content and comfortable just being me? In public, or in the awkward locker room? On a stage or alone at night?
We arrive naked… we’ll leave naked… and yet we try and “clothe” ourselves with all sorts of insecure compensation solutions in between.
Today, let’s just enjoy the humble reality of who we really are. It’s enough.