Excerpts from the Crystal Williams interview at Square-Peg People.com:
(This is a collection of excerpts, hop on over to the whole interview to get to know Crystal better.)
Talking with Crystal is like having one continuous "aha" experience...Wait! No, it's "aha" experiences mixed with laughter - and heart.
If you resonate with the term Square-Peg I think you'll feel you've met a kindred spirit here.
How Do You See Yourself as a Square-Peg?
I don't feel like I've ever quite been in synch with things. I even played with Barbies longer than other people.
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It's a lot easier online - there are all the little groups, but all the little groups meld together into one BIG group. And all of us end up in this huge mixing bowl of connection - which is great! It's so much better than high school. It's the opposite of high school, isn't it?
...But now {online} it's like there are lots of holes in the board and none of them are square. I can move around to all of them, but I don't fit into any of them.I fit with the people who don't fit.
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{Crystal mentioned being an introvert, so I asked her to talk about Square-Pegness and being an introvert}
I don't think there's anything wrong with being an introvert, but I've only come to see that because I've met so many others...
Extroverts don't have any trouble connecting to other extroverts, do they? But us, you know...Can you imagine The Introverts Club? I mean, who would show up?
One thing for sure - something I know that every introvert has experienced: our culture doesn't really welcome, or honor, the thinkers. We welcome and honor people who are big action takers, people in the front - those are the guys who get the love.
How Do You Maintain Your Square-Pegness (in a round-hole world)?
That's a very interesting question. I think it's because, without any intent at all (it just naturally happened) I'm surrounded by a bunch of other Square-Pegs. They make it really easy - nobody has the expectation that I'm going to do what they're doing.
I think that helps a lot - who I surround myself with.
~ ~ ~
If somebody gives me a Top 10 list of trending topics, or Top 10 list for the news, I want to know what numbers 11 through 15 are about. Because I've got 1 through 10 - I don't really need to read about that. I'll hear about that through other people.
You know, you go to the grocery store and it'll be on the cover of something, or the counter person will be talking about it - or the chick in front of you on the cell phone. You'll hear all the basic Top 10 stuff.
I want to know what's underneath that.
What Has Been the Hardest For You as a Square-Peg?
The worst is feeling the lonelies...
Separateness has always been this "thing"; I think that's why I like the internet as much as I do - because it's the exact opposite of separateness!
...and the isolation. Thinking that people who like you, who you enjoy being with, are rare.
What Is Your Favorite Square-Peg Trait?
I try so hard to be objective - like: I'm not Tyra Banks, but I'm not a ghoul either.
That kind of objectivity is kind of how I am, but it's hard to turn that kind of thing on yourself. Maybe objectivity is my favorte trait, but I'm not good at it all the time.
Objectivity is fun, it lets you enjoy a lot more. When you're walking around with a lot of opinions you have to maintain or defend them. What are you missing while you're standing around being pissed?
~ ~ ~
The complete interview is here - & includes a list of Crystal's favorite books (a category I didn't include here in the excerpts).
Check out Crystal's blog Big Bright Bulb: Ideas & Tools for Tiny Businesses With Even Tinier Budgets. And don't forget to sign up to get her articles by e-mail.
While you're there, consider picking up the Pep Talk Pack. For the right tiny ole price of $16 you get 8 pep talk recordings and a truly beautiful (e-book) .pdf - full of encouragement and inspiration!
Listening to Crystal on these recordings is so cool. Her voice is - wow, how do I describe it? - so friend-next-door, so inviting...You know what? Go, listen for yourself - she shares a free, sample recording of "Naked As The Day" (the link is at the bottom of the Pep Talk Pack page).
Once I heard the sample, I just had to pick up the pack!
Here's how Crystal describes the Pep Talk Pack:
Why read when you can listen? Hear me tell 8 popular (and sometimes funny) kick-in-the-butt stories on working simple, getting paid, being brave, and more.
Here's how I describe it:
FULL of inspiration, butt kicking (like Crystal said), but the gentle kind - the good kind. Incredibly helpful when you lose hope of succeeding as an entrepreneur. Or when you just need some friendly encouragement (a PEP talk) to keep on keepin' on.
Inspiring? Yea, it's like listening to that great teacher, the best one you ever had - the one who didn't just plop out facts, but talked from the heart - with humor, with life in his words. The one that let you know (deep - heart knowledge) that YOU could do it - that you absolutely could, and would - go out and shine -- yea, that one.
That's what listening to Crystal is like!
Oh! And then there's "Why I (Must) Knit" - one of the extras in the Pack (a written piece) -- it's not really about knitting, it's about having "something in hand to show for our effort…not just this digital, virtual, cloud-y stuff." And it absolutely re-ordered my world! I kid you not.
Now get on over there and visit Crystal - tell her Karen sent you!
One more time (grin) - the complete interview is here.
