I might enlarge a little on this friend, who I will call 'L....' as that is not his name. One of the reasons that we bonded was our shared research into why on earth we are so unselfconfident. He makes me think of the story of the Sl..ping Be@uty's christening. A string of fairies must have come forward and showered him with intelligence, charm, good looks, kindness, empathy, sporting prowess and a loving and millionaire father. Then a black-cloaked figure limped up and offered her gift of ridiculous, crawling, lack of self-esteem. Why? How.. could he possibly feel like that? I thought my lack of self-belief was beyond all reason but he is a thousand times worse. We have sat around indulgently discussing this over the years and can only conclude that it is genetic. There is not a single person in my family who isn't cheerful and outgoing. Even the grandfather who was reclusive did it in a tough, smug selfish way.
- posted by Iris @ 3/14/2004 11:23:00 AM comment