Sunday, September 30, 2012

Fake it until you make it

Although my husband finds this inconceivable, the summer before I entered the eighth grade I decided that I would no longer be shy.

All through elementary school, I had been a quiet girl who hid behind a book, but for the eighth grade, I was going to enter a new school, one where no one knew me or my personality.

It occurred to me at the age of 13 that I could reinvent myself. I didn’t have to be a bookworm with thick glasses. I could be outgoing, friendly, and, dare I say it, popular. I could fake it until I made it.

So, I took off my glasses and went to school. Since I was, in effect, blind without them and unable to distinguish the faces I passed in the hall, I cheerfully greeted everyone. I was no longer a shy girl. Instead, I was a girl who didn’t know a stranger -- literally.

That shy girl still lives inside of me, however. My natural inclination is to avoid things that make me fearful, and people are high on that list. I still have the same fear of rejection or sounding stupid. I fear it right now as I write this column, but I’ve done it anyway.

I read a quote recently by a hero of mine and most girls from the 1980s, Michael J. Fox. He said, “What other people think of me is not my business.”

When I’m expressing my opinion or, sometimes, even dressing for the day, I repeat this. And it helps.

As the years went on, I’ve continued to “fake it until I made it.” My first writing job is a good case in point. I went to the local business expo to allow the kids to sample some candy and pick up a few freebies.

“Why don’t you get a job while you’re there?” my husband teased.

“I believe I will,” I retorted, not amused.

As fate would have it, an editor for a regional magazine was there. My son, who is not shy, began chatting with her, and I suppressed my shy inner self and asked, “Do you need any local writers? I have an English degree.”

“Sure!” she said, and pressed her card into my hand. Days later she called and arranged to meet me.

“Oh, and bring your clips,” she said.

I assured her I would, hung up the phone and immediately googled clips. In case you are wondering, they are writing samples, and I didn’t have any. So, determined to be able to tell my husband that I had, indeed, gotten a job, I searched through our hot attic until I found my old college term papers.

The following Monday, the editor pulled up in her little red sports car looking like she’d just breezed in from New York. I, on the other hand, was on break from my day care job -- and looked it. Yet, I smiled, told her my background and shared the yellow faded papers placed inside a new shiny binder.

She opened it, flipped through the pages and frowned. I prayed she wouldn’t notice that the date was 10 years earlier or the fact that they hadn’t been published. After all, she never said published clips. I also prayed she wouldn’t notice the red ink marks from my professors.

She snapped the binder shut decisively and said, “You got it,” and passed along my first assignment. And, just like that, I was doing something I never thought I would be able to do.

I’ve heard some people say that “faking” has a bad connotation, that it sounds like a negative, and maybe they are right. Maybe there’s another word for doing things that scares one half to death. Oh, yes, there is. It’s called courage, and it resides in all of us. Don’t believe me? Try faking it and see what happens.



10 comments:

Alexandra said...

LOVE THIS. Love how I feel you making the decision to change your life and tiring of how things were.

I see that determination in your face: you were done with it.

xo

SO GREAT TO MEET YOU.

Meredith Leigh Knight said...

Thank you so much! It was a joy meeting and getting to know you. I am very honored that you've selected my post for the "Best of the Internet." Love that concept, btw. Looking forward to learning more from the great Empress! XOXO

Tracie Nall said...

I love this so much.

It is awesome that you took that step and got a writing job.

I recently did a little (courageous) faking, and now I need to follow through on it this week. Thanks for the encouragement that I can do it!

Kana said...

Way to go! I love that you agreed, then Googled it to find out what the heck you'd agreed to. That would have tripped me up entirely. How cool that you just rolled with it, like a champ!

I tried to reinvent myself a couple of times at that age, but never could keep it up - I am so happy you made a new place for yourself without having any prior knowledge of actually doing so. It's a self-confidence Cinderella story - you are awesome!

Meredith Leigh Knight said...

Tracie - Thank you so much for reading and your kind words. I wish you the best of luck in your endeavor. Please do follow up and let me know how it went!

Meredith Leigh Knight said...

Kana - I really appreciate your reading. "Self-confidence Cinderella story" is one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me. I'll carry that around in my heart. :) Thanks, again.

mypixieblog said...

Oh, HI!!! Empress (Good Day Regular People) sent me here and I'm so very glad I have read this. I have learned to fake it too over the years... but it's so inspiring to me to read stories of people who have been able to get gigs and DO things in spite of (not despite) their fears... well, it's very motivating for me.

Thank you for this!

mypixieblog said...

I am so glad that the Empress herself sent me here today. You are an inspiration to so many... you could have allowed your fears to take over, but you waltzed into that office and got yourself a job that day. You should feel so very proud of that!

Thank you for this :)

Meredith Leigh Knight said...

Thank you so much! I am very proud and also very grateful that she gave me a chance. Once I applied for a job on an editorial board, and the publisher never said no, so I kept emailing. I figured she'd either hiring me or get a restraining order. Fortunately, it was the latter. I really appreciate your reading. And, as a side note, don't you love the Empress?!

Logan Quinn said...

Trying to pin down when Michael J. Fox said this. Do you know?