Episode Notes

This week’s poem and episode discuss the painful feeling of longing to be like someone else, which can often be confused with both looking up to someone and idolizing them. Of course, these are very different things! It’s a wonderful thing to be inspired by someone’s vibe or style, but this can easily trickle into self-worth/esteem/confidence and comparison traps.

Through a more storytelling-focused poem, this episode breaks down what separates us in these ways, specifically how longing to be like someone else (as a tendril of not feeling like we’re enough) is a reflection of both the need to look inward and acknowledging that the other person perhaps needs to do the same (and inviting them to do this with you, if possible).

The poem is about seeing ourselves in others, others in ourselves, and knowing where and how old the walls, buildings, and boxes of comparison truly are.

Here's an excerpt of the poem (the full written & visually formatted versions can now be found & read at mikbrew.substack.com!):

But then, I imagine plucking a brick from the old building like a book from a shelf.

What story would each hold & tell?

There are thousands of brick books per building, so says the internet, gaps to grasp them sealed with mortar until

the grains of stories and truths finally break their bonds free, crumbling the building to bits under their new gas-phase weight

because

the more brick books you free from their shelves, the faster the building falls.

Listen to this week's episode to hear the full poem! If you’d like to share your moment or memory on the podcast, please head to tinyurl.com/bravingthewaves.