Let’s Be Human Together

Today I was thinking about the concept of self-disclosure as an effective interpersonal skill— I know, so much fun! I think a lot of people view self-disclosure as telling someone about your “history” or “baggage”. I would like to offer another way of looking at it.

I think self-disclosure is simply allowing someone else see the most human parts of me. It might look like talking about grief or my struggle with mental illness. It also looks like telling someone about the time in second grade I laughed so hard that I farted in front of my crush. It could look like sharing the fact that my twenties aren’t what I thought they’d be. So, in light of this thought-seed today, I would like to share with you one of my human moments from this week so far:

On Tuesday morning, I had a hard time getting out of bed. The natural consequence of this is not getting out of bed in time to adequately pack my lunch for the day. To solve this I decided to pack my sandwich ingredients and worry about the assembly later. I put a whole bottle of mayo, a whole bottle of mustard, some carrots, an apple, and teriyaki tofu (for the inside of my sandwich) into my lunchbox. When I got to work I put my lunchbox in the fridge and the morning went on as usual.

At lunch time, I opened my lunchbox and realized I forgot bread. I forgot bread for a sandwich— that’s like 50% of the meal. I couldn’t help but laugh at myself when I got home that day, only to see my bread laying on the counter exactly where I left it, as to not forget it on my way out the door this morning (haha). Then, only seconds later, I registered the fact that my lunchbox, with bottles of mustard and mayonnaise, was still in the fridge at work.