International Man of Mystery
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International Man of Mystery
John Paul Derryberry
There are roughly 7.7 billion people on this planet, so the term, "I'm an imperfect nobody," applies to a lot more people than we realize. I'm obviously a flawed nobody, just a guy with a goofy last name who for the previous 15 years has been speaking about emotional health. The list of botched introductions at speaking engagements ranges from John Dingleberry to John Berry. The worst is when they think my parents hated me from birth and introduce me as first name Derry, last name Berry.
But here is the thing about being a nobody in a sea of nobodies. It should free us to chase a different path, the life we ultimately want. Yet for many of us, the notion that we are nobodies causes us to believe those self-deprecating statements we all internally scream at ourselves. I don't tell many people this fact, but the first blog I ever published had a grand total of five readers. If you do the quick math, 5 out of 7.7 billion is a minuscule percentage. After you eliminate my wife, my sister, my mom, my mother-in-law, who have all read every blog, only one of my initial reader's identity is unknown.
Discouraging? Yes! Deflating? Very much so. Soul crushing? Absolutely not. Remember, I'm a nobody, so there is no pressure. Failure was not attempting new ways to reach my audience. Failure was the belief that it only takes one blog or speaking engagement to build something special. Success was the realization that those five readers knew John Paul Derryberry more intimately than they did previously. And, if they could understand me more intimately, they could know their circle of family and friends better. More importantly, they could know themselves better. Success is the notion that a self-admitted, imperfect human being like me can create space for people to heal through stories. If I can, you can.
Instead of being a speaker and blogger telling others how to live, I decided long ago I would lead by questioning my existence, my worth, my perspective of the world. I would laugh at my stupid mistakes and embrace full-on my cheesy dorkiness. I would use my voice to yell into the void, "I'm imperfect. I'm learning. That's okay and won't you join me?" I hoped at first that my friends would read my blog. They do. Then my local town(s), they do. Then my adopted state of Iowa, and my home state of Ohio, they do. Then other states, they do. In fact, I had a reader from all 50 states last year.
Never in my daydreams of talking about emotional health on TV with Ellen DeGeneres did I envision that this little blog entitled, "Sunday Night with John," would go international. This year, it did. This week in Ireland, Germany, France, England, Japan, Brazil, Australia, Canada, Mexico, and Spain, a person I more than likely will never meet will click "read" on Sunday Night with John. I've had readers from every country listed, and more. Not every blog goes global, and not one has gone viral. If I did the math of the total number of readers versus 7.7 billion people, it would still be tiny, but not as small as it used to be.
Sunday Night With John has gone international. This doesn't mean my introduction will change to Derryberry, John, Derryberry, mostly because it doesn't have the ring to it that the original owner of that introduction does. Also, I'm never going to be an international man of mystery. I don't want to be. This shouldn't be mysterious. A healthy emotional life should be accessible to all. I will always be the imperfect guy trying to figure out my place in the world, continually learning how to be better. I want to continue to push the notion that sharing our stories is the path to healing. Laughing, crying, smiling, sobbing together about our shared experiences is soul purifying.
Wherever you are reading me from, thank-you. And, whatever healthy impact you want to have on the people around you, do it. Create, write, share. Whether it's seen by millions, thousands, hundreds, or like my first blog, 5 readers. Your healthy contribution to the world can and will make the world a better place. Take it from a nobody like me, a guy whom most people can't even get his name right. Somehow that guy figured out how to make his corner of the world a better place, a corner that is just more significant than it ever was before.