WUGO | Greg Macek

relationships

  • You Make Me Feel Safe

    You Make Me Feel Safe

    Over the summer, while I was hanging out with a friend, a moment of particular vulnerability stood out during our conversation. They told me, “You make me feel safe.” It was a profound statement to make, unprompted, and one that displayed significant vulnerability and trust. (It’s impossible to know how that would be received – other than good.) It was quite unexpected. This friend is not always the most open about feelings, which made the moment that much more impactful. Not only was it a refreshing moment of openness, but I took what they said to heart and reflected on how I must be doing something right in the friendship. 

    I’ve thought a lot about this moment since then. Innately, we seek safety for self-preservation, for peace, and for comfort. How many of us have people we would consider a safe space? How much work are we intentionally putting into ourselves to be that for others? Are we willing to work on being emotionally and physically safe spaces to our circles? Is our very presence enough to put people at ease, let them be themselves, and lower their guards?

    I recognize my own limitations in putting this type of trust in others. If I do, it’s rarely full-throated, which, by definition, means I don’t feel completely safe. I selectively lessen my grip and often just for a fleeting moment or two. Loosening that emotional control for too long may put something on display not yet curated for public consumption. Guess I need to practice what my friend did with me, proclaim who my safe spaces are to those people, and live within them more wholeheartedly.   

  • Noticing

    Noticing

    Every once in a while, I am reminded that we need to remind others that we exist and of what we “bring to the table.” It is not the natural state for many of us to notice others. It is not my natural state to do things intentionally to be noticed.

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  • Nobody is a Stranger in Scotland

    Nobody is a Stranger in Scotland

    Once in a while you meet someone you didn’t quite expect and that person ends up imprinting a part of themselves onto you, whether they were intending to or not. And yet, you walk away from that experience being extremely grateful.

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  • Best Supporting Actor

    Be the best supporting actor role in everyone else’s story

    Me, Me, Me

    American culture has an odd obsession with celebrity and being a star and unique. We are taught to see ourselves as important and as the center of our universe. Individually we are each the point from which all things revolve and rotate around. We each matter, probably more than the next person! It’s ok for goals, personal freedoms, and desires to take precedence over any unexpected repercussions in our ongoing quest for self-gratification. It’s self above all else. 

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  • How to Care for Singles During a Quarantine

    How to Care for Singles During a Quarantine

    Let us remember to look after one another

    Life is rarely easy. No matter how independent or self-sufficient or introverted we are or say we are, we need other people. For interaction, companionship, to love & be loved, for help, and so much more. In-person interaction is vital to our existence. However, that’s not something we all have easy access to, currently exacerbated by the current situation with COVID-19/Coronavirus. 

    More Americans are living alone than ever before. Almost one third of the population lives alone. (I count myself among that population.) Like many introverts and so many memes, we’ve been “training for this all our lives” because we more often choose those times of solitude from interaction. Mildly funny, but a poor reflection of our current reality. That hasn’t previously excluded being alone in public, like coffee shops, stores, and restaurants. 


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  • Your Presence is Requested

    “Presence with others is first about showing up.”

    Presence (Amy Cuddy)

    Who are the most important and influential people in your life? Growing up, very likely it was the friends and family who you were around and see on a regular basis. They showed up for birthday parties and graduations. You hung out in each other’s homes just doing whatever, sometimes nothing in particular. Simply being around each other was enough. In high school, college, and into your 20s, regularly being around people this was often still the determining factor in who you were close to and you mattered to you. That setting could be a school, church, or your job.

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  • On Vulnerability

    Definition: “capable of being physically or emotionally wounded”

    (courtesy of Merriam-Webster)

    At an undetermined point during my youth, I made a decision. Being an INFP and generally anti-confrontation and avoidant of difficult or painful situations, I became more intentional about trying not to put myself in places where I could be hurt or emotionally wounded by others. What better way to avoid pain than by avoiding activities that could involve pain? So what if some of those same activities also had the opportunity for real connection, warmth, love, and healing? Guess I missed out.

    The goal was to protect me from any more pain.

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  • Open Seating

    Well before I got interested in photography, I always found myself drawn to empty spaces, to those quiet places. The ones most enticing are those found against the loudest of backdrops. They pull me in with their temptations of possibilities and of unheard and overlooked stories. It’s in the stillness which listening is best done.

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