"If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive."
– Audre Lorde
I am a seeker. A relationship builder. A creative collaborator. A thought partner. A team player.
I thrive when I'm around other people. Off the energy they give me. And the energy I give them. And the energy we give each other.
I need support. I want support. I want to run my ideas by people. And I want to have people run their ideas by me.
I am a social being. An extrovert. Happy to have a conversation with just about anyone on any topic at any time.
I love to explore and reflect and evolve and grow and discover and more fully understand what makes each person unique.
I seek out discussion and dialogue and exchange and good company and kindred spirits.
I am influenced by other people. Their ideas and their written words and their spoken words and their truths and their lies and their mistakes and their profundities.
I welcome it all and I absorb it all and I use it all in a myriad of ways that are both definable and undefinable. Visible and invisible.
I rely on the warmth and love and empathy and compassion of other people to survive.
And, in the end, I define myself for myself. I am unapologetically me.
And I have not been eaten alive.