Nice job Syd! You hit the nail on the head!

LOOKIN’ AROUND by Syd Iwan

Have you been feeding your ego lately? If you haven’t, you might find you don’t have enough self confidence to do what you need to do. We have to believe we are smart enough and competent enough to do something before we can even get started.
Just today I had an ego crisis. There I was looking at my computer screen where I’d just pulled up a video game. It looked really hard and complicated, and I thought, “I can’t do this! It’s too much for me!” I sat there a bit contemplating the matter and then decided, “Well, maybe I’ll just give it a try,” and I did. After fiddling around with things a little while, lo and behold I started to understand what was going on. Eventually I got things underway and was able to do just fine. Another crisis avoided.
How, though, do you build up your ego? One way might be to find some talent or ability you have and develop your skill at it. I think of a young fellow who played football recently and was really quite good at it. He also could run like a deer. If he got a head start towards the goal line, no one could catch him. He was always faster than everyone else and was fun to watch streaking down the field. Do you suppose, however, that he got that fast by sitting in front of the TV eating popcorn? Probably not. He must have spent many hours running and building himself up, and it paid off. My, that guy could really run.
I have seen other people who can just look at an object, animal or scene, and then go right ahead and draw it. I am not one of those people. I have enough grasp of design and perspective to take some interesting scenic photos from time to time, but don’t ask me to draw them. Still, when people like my photos well enough to buy them, it encourages me to keep at it when I have the time and ambition.
Music is another field I’ve been involved in most of my life. When folks compliment me on my music from time to time, it gives me an ego boost. It luckily doesn’t give me a big head, however, since I’ve come across a whole lot of people whose musical ability far surpasses mine. Some of my fellow music majors at college were just exceptional musicians. They could simply hear a song once and sit down and play it. I can’t do that. I can play simple tunes by ear, but my ear fails me if things get very complicated. This lack, though, has made it so I can sight read some fairly difficult compositions through long experience and practice so I’m not complaining. Things are okay as they are.
One cousin of mine is pretty and talented enough that she has been queen of this and woman of that all her life. This has been going on now for well over fifty years and seems to not yet be at an end. This probably gives her a boost from time to time and builds up her ego somewhat. Still, even this sort of thing takes experience and effort before it works out. I recall the time in the Navy when some of us junior officers were detailed to escort various gals up and down the runway at a beauty pageant. We had to wear our uncomfortable starchy dress-white uniforms for this task. When I first met the gal I was supposed to escort, I didn’t think she had much chance of winning anything. She was a nice looking girl but not a raving beauty in my books. Come to find out, however, she knew what she was doing since she’d been in beauty contests all her life. She knew just how to walk, turn, smile, and talk so the judges noticed and liked her. I was pleasantly surprised when she did very well in the pageant. long wedding outfits with court/chapel trains
If all else fails and you find you have few talents and abilities, you can always try being really kind and nice to other people. There are a lot of folks out there who would benefit from a kind word and a little help with this and that. Being a good and helpful person might, in fact, be one of the best ways of building your own ego and self-esteem. By all means, develop any talents or skills you have so as not to waste them, and that will build you up in turn, but still remember to be kind. Everyone might love you if you are kind, and there’s nothing more encouraging than being loved.