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Highly Sensitive Men Work Spirituality Lifestyle Relationships Therapy Personal Growth HSP Resources On Being Gifted The Gifted Adult Characteristics Special Issues Blessing or Curse? Commentary Gifted Resources On Being Introverted Inward Journey Outward Journey Shyness & Introversion Finding Self Introvert Resources On Personality Types C.G.Jung Myers-Briggs The Enneagram ANSIR Socionics Others On Psychology, etc. Counseling & Therapy Abnormal Psych? Choosing a Therapist On Life, in General Thoughts Words Images Dreams & Wishes Commentaries Putting it All Together A Journal, of Sorts Dedications & Thanks About Me A Gallery of Links |
Highly Sensitive Men Work Spirituality Lifestyle Relationships Therapy Personal Growth HSP Resources On Being Gifted The Gifted Adult Characteristics Special Issues Blessing or Curse? Commentary Gifted Resources On Being Introverted Inward Journey Outward Journey Shyness & Introversion Finding Self Introvert Resources On Personality Types C.G.Jung Myers-Briggs The Enneagram ANSIR Socionics Others On Psychology, etc. Counseling & Therapy Abnormal Psych? Choosing a Therapist On Life, in General Thoughts Words Images Dreams & Wishes Commentaries Putting it All Together A Journal, of Sorts Dedications & Thanks About Me A Gallery of Links |
A bit about the person who created this site |
"You're supposed to have an About Me page!" someone told me, a while back. If you made it as far as this page, I'm impressed! And if you came her first-- perhaps out of curiosity-- then I'll just say "welcome." The contents of this web site speak pretty well of where my mind is, and where many of my interests lie-- as far as thinking goes. Of course, there are more aspects to a person than their interests "du jour." Ironically, this is the oldest page on the site, dating back to early 1995. Well, not exactly-- this page is the 247th reincarnation of a "web profile" page I used to have on AOL. About the only thing the current version has in common with the original, is that it's an attempt at self-disclosure, rather than an effort to dispense information about a particular topic. As such, it has always been the most difficult section for me to write, but here goes an attempt to describe the "human." |
I am a 40-something Danish national living in central Texas. Although I still call myself Danish, I have actually lived in Texas longer than anywhere else. The funny thing is-- even though I have lived here for 20+ years, it has never quite felt like "home," to me. I don't know if it is the relentless hot summers, the erstwhile "kowboy kulture" or the distance to the ocean that troubles me, but something is a little "off." In the not too distant future, I plan to move somewhere else, in pursuit of a cooler climate. Perhaps to Vancouver, BC or Port Townsend, WA; maybe Seattle. I miss the proximity to the sea, and mountains, and distinct seasons. |
1995.03.08 2003.08.16 |
All content Copyright ©1995-2003 Peter Messerschmidt & Inner Reflections. All Rights Reserved. |
I have already had my erstwhile mid-life crisis, although I tend to regard it more as a "mid-life epiphany." On the other hand, I sometimes wonder if my whole life has been one long "mid-life crisis." I seem to have learned much, yet I spend so much time "looking for a clue." It seems that society likes to label anyone who "reinvents" themselves as "a person with a crisis." Society also thinks it's a "crisis" when someone's focus shifts from one of "living to please the world" to one of "living to please ourselves." At the same time, there is a plethora of self-help books that tell us it's "bad" to be stuck in a rut. Strikes me that maybe they don't have any more of a "clue" than I do. Like many HSPs, I have struggled with relationships. I have tried being married. I have experienced dysfunctionality-- in myself, and in those around me, both up close, and from a bit of a distance. As a consequence, I have "done time" with several counselors. |
Had I been young today, I would probably have been one of those kids school psychologists freak out over after finding condoms, a dead piranha and diskettes with bomb-making instructions in my backpack. What those "experts" wouldn't have realized is that I wouldn't have been building a bomb, but learning how to disarm one, just in case. And you just never know when a piranha might come in handy..... I have tried working in the mainstream of life. I even achieved some measure of "success," but found that the world's "ideal" of what I "should be" trying to accomplish left me with a large hollow space in my soul. I have tried being in business management and I have tried being broke. I didn't care for either one. Most of my first 15 years in the workforce were spent doing things heavily related to sales and marketing-- a horrible "misfit" for an introverted HSP. As the old millennium came towards a close, I concluded that I had to reinvent myself-- much of which involved making healthier choices. These days I'm a member of the "new economy," and can best describe myself as a "patchwork economist." I'm a writer, web marketer, business consultant, "solopreneur" coach, psychodemographic trend observer, cereal box psychologist, eBay "junque" trader, and a student of-- and commentator on-- the human condition. Special interests include the psychology of marketing and economics, adult giftedness, personality typing, Highly Sensitive People, human relationships, demographic and psychographic trends, the enneagram, self-actualization, nature, photography, reading, writing, as well as assorted general weirdness. |
After much struggle, I have made peace with the idea that natural talent doesn't have a darn thing to do with being able to make a living, within the parameters of modern society. Being highly intelligent doesn't have squat to do with it, either. Heck, the world's smartest man is a part-time bouncer in New Jersey. Someone once said: "Do what you love, the money will follow." Maybe I am cynical, but I have been watching the rear-view mirror for many years, and usually the only thing I find there are friends and relatives asking for help and handouts. Perhaps they are there because I am a helper, empath and healer by nature, evidently providing calm and rest to those in anguish and distress. As part of my "reinvention process," I helped my ego get a "divorce" from society's mad "rollercoaster of materialism." I don't give a rat's patootie about "keeping up with the Joneses," and I have no interest in erstwhile "ego-consumables." I am on a continuing mission to "simplify" and "downsize" my life, in search of my own version of "sustainability." I am a big fan of co-housing and sustainable eco-villages, and have long harbored dreams of being part of-- or helping to found-- some kind of intentional community specifically designed with the needs of HSPs in mind. |
Other than that, it's pretty simple. I love nature, and am only half-joking when I tell people that "nature is my church." Like most of us, I am a mass of contradictions. I hug trees, but bring along a laptop with a satellite uplink to the web. I love cities, and I love the country. I eat red meat, but have never met the Sasquatch. My relatives are weird. They'll read this, and send me nastygrams. I love autumn leaves, the smell of sagebrush in the desert after a rain, the ocean, mountains, mist, the beach, gentle rain and strong coffee. I collect beach glass, because it reminds me of our impermanence-- it started as sand, humans made it into glittering glass, and eventually the motion of the waves will turn it back into sand. I don't like "group think." In fact, I generally reject it. Great minds don't think ALIKE, they think FOR THEMSELVES. I like cats. They seem to like me. We have a symbiotic relationship that involves ear scratching, hairballs, litter boxes, photography and relaxation. |
Comments? Questions? Complaints? Compliments? |
