InfiniteTides

Hello.  My name is Keith, and I’m an attention whore.  It’s been five minutes since my last status update or tweet seeking the attention I long for.  Obviously I’m not being completely serious.  It’s probably been closer to thirty minutes since I’ve posted something.  I understand that people may perceive me as someone constantly seeking attention (at least online).  What they may not also grasp is that there’s something inside each of us that seeks validation, recognition that we are important to someone else in our lives.  Sure, some of us take it too far with our goofy Facebook avatars, corny status updates, and off-the-wall blog posts, but for the most part, it’s only a small part of our overall personalities that makes us do these things.

I wonder why we do that, why we look so hard at our overall personality, for one trait we think will describe the dominant side (as though there is one) of our being.  I see quiz results on Facebook telling people what color, soda pop, sports team, and vegetable (no offense to the handicapped) they are.  All of us wonder what other people think about us.  It’s human nature to do so.  I frequently find myself not posting status updates and comments to friends’ walls because I don’t want to give the impression (probably too late!) that I’m someone who constantly needs to be the center of attention.  The truth of the matter is that I post a lot, because I’m online and bored a lot.  (I am Keith’s defensiveness.)  In the offline world, I could easily go days without speaking to anyone, especially at work.  I’m not a social butterfly, but I play one on the interwebs.

Our emotions often drive what we are thinking though we would like to believe it’s the other way around.  I don’t recall who first said it, but humans are emotional beings who think, not thinking beings who emote (and use smileys).  If you don’t believe me, just consider what happens when we get upset.  We often say things we don’t mean.  We lash out at people we love.  Our emotions flood our brains, and we stop thinking about the consequences of our words (and maybe even our actions).  Our emotions drive our thoughts about what others think of us, thereby driving our behavior in ways we might not even realize, like how often we post on Facebook or Twitter.

Each of us has just about every personality trait under the sun within us in varying amounts.  It’s rare that one of these traits actually dominates all of the others.  As human beings, we like to pigeon-hole everything.  We subconsciously classify and categorize everything and everyone.  Whether we like it or not, whether we know it or not, our emotions are attached to, or even direct this classification.  It’s why we feel nostalgic about inanimate objects.  Emotions are often attached to memories of just about everything and everyone.

I suppose I’m off the track a bit.  What I’m getting at is this, everyone is/can be/has been in pursuit of attention from someone (maybe it’s your cat’s aloofness that’s pissing you off).  So please don’t judge me too harshly when I spam your Facebook wall or Twitter feed with my witlessisms.  With that said, I need to find a cabin in the woods somewhere that has internet, because with this post, I’m seriously off the wagon.