An unsurprising confession
I often wake up to sunlight pouring over my bed and onto my bookcase, the light shining on the various spines of my book collection. Sometimes, I wake myself up by reading each title and thinking about each story, starting from left to right on the shelf.
I love Outlander, I think right after wrinkling my nose at another title I regretted purchasing from Prairie Lights (Iowa City’s beloved local bookstore). Eventually, I’ll push the comforter off my body and rummage around my sunlit room, getting ready for school.
I get on my moped: a purple Buddy 50cc. I tie my hair back and rev the engine, giving it a minute to warm up before I take off toward campus. When I tell people I own a purple moped, sometimes they smile and laugh, but I feel so cool on that little thing. The wide grin that is usually plastered on my face as I drive it around says so (see fig. 1 below).
I’ll clock in for my job, where I look at SEO and marketing data for hours, scraping through Google rankings and emerging trends. Then, I fill page after page with an informational article, cleaning up previous work and using what I learned from the data.
I love to consider audience, AI, and current market trends. I love finding something interesting in the data; the many “search results” graphs don’t confuse or bore me.
While walking to class, I cross the street to avoid those Iowa City Tik Tok guys that hold a mic to your face, motion for you to take your AirPods out by pointing to their ears, just to ask what you’re listening to. The audience behind their camera is hungry for a bizarre music suggestion, but I don’t want to tell the world that Stephen Sondheim’s music pulls at heartstrings that pop or country couldn’t even find. (Except… I guess I just did.)
I read books and drink the words up like I’ve been dehydrated of a good story for a long time. I don’t an English class. I pour my time and attention into my studies, soaking up every page, every paragraph, every sentence, every word. We dissect stories until they’re too torn apart to continue on, but I still leave class thinking.
If I’m in a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad mood… offer me a story to read. And when I die, bury me with a book that could keep a door open.
When I go home for the weekend, I scream my brother’s name before he performs in this year’s marching band show. I love how the band is so much better than when I was in it, back when my high-school weekends were spent in shoulder pads and atop a conducting podium.
Yes, I know what you’re thinking. And I will admit: Caroline Potts is a complete and total nerd.
Be the nerd.
When I typed “nerd” into my Google search bar, I got Merriam-Webster’s definition: “a person devoted to intellectual, academic, or technical pursuits or interests.”
Cool, I’ll take it. My definition of “nerd” throughout this essay is much like Merriam-Webster’s, and it doesn’t matter if you are introverted or extroverted, academic or non-academic, or even what you are “nerdy” about.
To me, nerds are the people who care about other people’s work — art, sports, history, music, whatever!
To me, it’s wonderfully human to obsess over art, sports, history, music. To care about someone else’s work, to love the things that other people do and even join in and collaborate with them.
Isn’t that actually cool?
Now, there are pros and cons to never being indifferent (I would know, see section above). But I would rather be an un-chill person — to be proud of the hobbies that interest me — than be indifferent. That’s a much more refreshing way of living. Not being a nerd sounds throughly and horrifyingly boring.
Be passionate
When someone else is curious, I encourage you to talk about your passions. Dive into the music theory behind Taylor Swift. Explain the history behind your favorite sports team. Recommend a movie or TV show that you just can’t stop thinking about.
Tell your loved ones about the things you love.
When you do this, life becomes so much more fun. You meet and connect with people who share the same interests with you. You form new relationships, you build new friends from the nerdy foundation you already had.
Be curious
However, I also recommend balancing your passions with a constant curiosity. When someone else tells you about their life and interests, you listen.
If you’re going to not be indifferent, be interested in other people and their passions. Ask questions and let them be a nerd, too. Accept the both sides of being a caring person, and care for others’ interests, too. As you’ve heard a million times, do unto others as they do unto you. ☝️🤓
Don’t worry what others may think. It’s so fun and cool to be passionate about hobbies and life.
Ask questions, and be the nerd.
As always: be gritty, stay graceful.