Maybe Charlie Has It Right

Baxter's Buzz of the Week

Buzz of the Day - Do you think there's an amount of money that will give you the freedom to say whatever you feel?

I am very careful of the things I say, for many reasons. I think the main reason is to not offend anyone. I am also very mindful of the power of words and the power of perception.

Most of the extremely successful people that you know or heard about are pretty different than you. Why is that? They push limits and bend rules to the point that these limits and rules are redefined after the fact.

Most of us save our true feelings about work for when we get home amongst our friends. Then we turn around and talk about our friends and family with other friends and family and/or talk about them at work.

How would you feel if your boss REALLY knew how you felt? You'd probably not have a job. Could you handle what people really felt about you? Probably not. So we deal with people and we are extremely disingenuous while doing so.

What would it take for you to go "Charlie Sheen"? Not the drugs and that, but the honesty that he's portraying? To say how he truly feels about things, not caring how others perceive him? The freedom of knowing that you're different, and instead of trying to hide it, embracing it?

I believe that there are many reasons Sheen has done what he's done lately. Drug use (past and possible present use), arrogance, and more money than he knows to do with. I also believes that he's been itching to say these things for years, and now he's letting it all hang out.

There are people who have much more money, and much more sense that Charlie Sheen does. And for the record, I don't agree with how he's conducting himself. But I do think we can learn about embracing what makes us different like Sheen is doing. Whether its our feelings about war, the type of music we like, or our sexual orientation, we shouldn't be forced to conform to other's expectations. We all should enjoy being different.

There will always be political correctness that folks will call fake or phony. That's life. I'm not condoning call people out by name, being childish, and alienating people who care about you. I guess a part of me wishes that I was as comfortable in my own skin as Sheen appears to be. And I know there are people who are a lot less comfortable than me, who are dying inside.

It's hard enough being a human, not to mention living a life that you don't feel good about because you're hiding your real self.

Maybe we need to embracing what makes us different in order to truly excel. While we talk and write about these successful people, they are not worried about us. They are living their lives, giving us more to discuss.