5 Funny Assumptions About Me — Including My Recent Success on Medium
Setting the record straight
“You have bewitched me body and soul. And I love. I love. I love you”- Mr. Darcy (Pride & Prejudice)
Yes indeed, that’s a quote by the one and only Mr. Darcy whom I still crush on despite him being a fictional character from a book written a couple of centuries ago. It may sound weird but I never seem to grow tired of reading my dog-eared copy of Pride & Prejudice.
Reading is something I enjoy and am what fellow writer Danielle Loewen would refer to as “Eclectic Enthusiast.” A recent experience that I found quite funny was when someone appeared to be surprised that Stephen King is my fave author because they assumed that horror was not my cup of tea.
Why ever not?
So this article was prompted by that comment.
5 funny assumptions about me:
1.)Being an Empath does not mean I’m a character from Star Trek.
“I’m an empath,” I tell a new friend and wait for any one of the three standard responses I usually hear upon making such a statement : disbelief, ridicule or plain awkwardness (as in no clue how to react).
My friend does not disappoint.
“Oh cool!” he says after a brief pause. “Like that character from Star Trek? Big fan!”
“Uh no. I’m real, unlike “that character.”
In the popular Sci-fi series of the eighties, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deanna Troi is a character who is half human half Betazoid. Her human side makes her an empath which means she has “a hyper ability to sense emotions in others.” Some believe that empaths, like Deanna, belong exclusively in the realm of sci fi.
I however think that the creator of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry, based Deanna Troi on a real life empath.
So who is an empath you say?
An empath is “a person highly attuned to the feelings and emotions of those around them.”
There are many like me out there who prefer to hide our light under a bushel rather than expose ourselves to ridicule. I would have too if not for a fellow writer, Spyder, on Medium who inspired me to write about my experiences as an empath.
Funny how it is my “Empath Chronicles” (name bestowed by Walter Pop Matthews IV) that started getting me noticed on this platform.
2.)Are you European?
Why do folks assume I am from Europe?
Case in point:
“Are you from Europe?”
“Umm, no.”
“Dang it. I could have sworn from your name that you are from Europe!”
“Oh?”
OR
“You know, there is a Bollywood actress with your same exact name…”
Huh?
“Yeah! The songs she dances to are very popular. So in India, the name Yana means Yana Gupta…”
Okayy…
Jokes aside, this is another common misconception about me based on - you got it, my name. I have been blessed with a beautiful name and by blessed I literally mean it. Yana means “God is gracious.”
3.)Single, huh?
When I hang out with the girls, all of them married, the conversation inevitably comes around to my love life. The advice flows lavishly about what I should or should not be doing to find ‘the one.’
Sigh.
This is what I have to say to my friends who have made match making their mission based on the wrong assumption that I’m missing out: “Sometimes, ‘I’m single’ means, ‘I’m drama free, less stressed and I refuse to settle for less.’”
4.) People pleaser: This is an interesting one. I don’t deny that I used to be a people pleaser back in the day (please note the words “used to be”) but I have since given up on that after some spectacular backfires.
I think what has changed for me is the expectation behind it.
Case in point:
Someone: “Do you want everyone to like you?”
Me: “No. But I believe in being kind. We can always do with a little more of that.”
5.) “Impressive for a newbie.”
Recently I published an article titled “What I Learned From Breaking 5000 views And 500 followers Milestone On The Same Day” which has received a lot of love. While I am deeply grateful to my readers for helping me achieve this milestone, I view it more as a slow & steady growth.
Why do I think so?
I am not by any means an overnight success nor can I boast of any articles of mine going viral. I also tend to publish fewer articles (little over thirty since I started my Medium journey in Feb) which may not be the optimum output for a new writer on this platform. Nevertheless, an interesting thing I have observed is that my views have steadily increased probably because folks started to connect with my writing and find value in the content I have to offer.
So there you have it — 5 assumptions debunked. Do let me know your thoughts regarding funny assumptions in the comments.
Thank you Michael Burg, MD (AKA Medium Michael Burg) for mentioning me in your tags (I couldn’t resist) & thanks Jill (Conquering Cognitions) for your awesome support!
