Jim Murray

1 year ago · 2 min. reading time · ~100 ·

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'Hang In There, Baby' And Other Bullshit

'Hang In There, Baby' And Other Bullshit

Hong INThere, Baby!

Every so often I come across something that just riles me up. Although admittedly I am pretty easy to rile and let’s face it there so much bullshit out there that if I wanted to I could stay completely agitated 24/7.

But what riles me the most in this vast and well charted wilderness of bullshit are all these little pep talk memes posted by life coaches and performance coaches and..come to think of it, you can’t swing a dead cat on the Internet and not come across some sort of coach.

Anyway these people are all doing these Hang In There, Baby posters, as I call them, but I’m not sure what they are trying to prove with them.

Maybe they have this populist view of personal branding that has been drummed into everybody’s heads for years now, and figure, yeah, what the world needs now is another motivational poster. Surely it will go viral. Surely I can save a few lost souls.

My wife and I were waiting to pay for a lamp in HomeSense last week, We were in line behind this young woman who has obviously graduated with full honours from the Lady Gaga School of Fashion and Makeup. Her face, albeit it attractive, looked like this weird mask of mascara, lip gloss, rouge, mile long eyelashes and charcoal eye trim all framed in long straight silvery purple hair. It was really something to see around here, where most of young women are either jocks or debs.

As she turned the corner in the line, I saw she was holding a framed poster that read something like, cause I don’t remember it word for word…”I will always be the brightest star in my galaxy”. And all I could think of was, maybe if you took off the Gaga wannabe mask, and went back to your real hair colour, you might have a shot.

Now people like my darling daughter will chastise me for criticizing someone who is just expressing themselves. But the fact that this girl was willing to pay about 70 bucks for a poster that told her she was worth something really kinda blew me away.

And it said a whole lot about personal insecurity.

But the simple fact is that you can’t buy confidence…you have to learn how to do some stuff, get good at it, then you will be amazed at how your confidence blossoms.

But alas, the massive number of (pick a thing) coaches really speaks volumes to the lack of confidence that many many people possess.

I’ve been very lucky to have spent my adult life around people for whom confidence was never an issue. So much so that I can barely relate to the notion of needing some sort of boost to actually get your ego above water.

Maybe that’s why I find these Hang In There, Baby things just so much bullshit on a stick. Because I may not be wrong in my assumption that emotional crutches such as these tend to be made of the flimsiest of wood, and if you really need support for your ego, maybe you should try getting it the old fashioned by working for it.

I know that sounds harsh, but it is a rant, so file it under tough love. Or tell me I’m full of shit. That would be a good thing to do too, eh.

Peace out…jim

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Comments

Alan Culler

1 year ago #5

You're right it seems a little harsh, Jim

You might get a kick out of Joe Hagy's Cranky Old Man blog

https://joeh-crankyoldman.blogspot.com/  Causes me to laugh -when all I want to do is rant.

I'm of the view that you do whatever it takes to keep your motivation up. - posters and memes don't really do it for me, but “who am I to blow against the wind?”

Jim Murray

1 year ago #4

Jerry Fletcher

1 year ago #3

Jim, the mere existence of posters like these is proof that people will vote with their wallets and there will always be someone to take advantage of being perceived as being clever. And so it goes.

Royce Shook

1 year ago #2

Hi Jim, interesting assumption you made about the young lady you saw. As Glen said, perhaps she was buying the poster as a gift,  for a loved one or a friend who did not have her sense of self-confidence. In my experience people who go out with straight silvery purple hair usually have a lot of self-confidence. I agree with Fanci that either you believe in yourself or you do not. 

Glenn Melcher

1 year ago #1

Hey Jim,

 

I am with You on the crutch ..

We can’t know the path the person You have described has taken or endured to get to where She is today..

 

She must have achieved some level of success to spend $ on the item You described .  it is possible it might be a gift ..

 

We must be giving the benefit of the doubt often and always ..

 

From a fan just south of the Canadian boarder in Minnesota..

Kind Regards,

 

Glenn Melcher

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