When we meet someone, say at a cocktail party or school event, we learn what we have in common with our new friend. There is a desire to explain who we are and what we value, yet this is hard to do in bite-sized conversations. We engage in small talk, which is uncomfortable if you feel as though you have nothing small to talk about.

Our minds want to make sense of the world and so we have to put things in categories. It is hard to know what information to give someone if you don’t work outside of the home. We love our families, but who wants to hear about all the laundry?

Instead of answering it is tempting to deflect.

You might be overeducated for the work you currently do, so it twinges a bit when you have to answer a question like: “So, what do you do?” The first thing which pops into your mind is I am “just a” __________ (fill in the blank for whatever you do). Starting here, you already feel like you are back on your heels instead of standing tall and open-hearted. On a good day, you are quick with a response like Chauffer, Uber driver, or Referee in order to get a chuckle. But these answers do not give anyone a peek behind the curtain of the Spectacularness that is you.