At the beginning of all of this, I felt a great need to explain that this is not the real me.  I would brag and find some silly way to explain that I was really a bad ass athlete and racer, what I envisioned myself as, not what you see.  I wouldn’t say that this was a serious problem other than I got tired of the awkward feeling that I was constantly bragging about the past.

The problem with bragging is that it creates a closed conversation.  That quickly becomes boring.  That tends to push interesting people away.  A dynamic conversation that organically morphs as people unwittingly guide it is so much more fun and enlightening.  It is a sport unto itself.

I am quite sure that I will continue to brag about my past from time to time.  The difference now is that I am learning to accept myself as I am, or at least trying to.

It allows one to be a little more in the moment and forward thinking.