Modesty

After watching American Idol this week and seeing the girl audition in the skimpy bikini I started to think about modesty and how some people just don't' possess any. I asked my ten year old if she new what modesty was and she didn't really have an answer so I looked it up and showed her the definition:

Modesty is most often rendered as humility, shyness, or simplicity. The general principles of modesty include:Avoiding attracting attention to oneself by moderating one's actions or appearance;Downplaying one's accomplishments (see humility);Avoiding insincere self-abasement through false or sham modesty, which is a form of boasting.

When I saw the definition it really hit home because I have always considered myself modest but not for the reasons in the definition. I don't walk around naked or even in my underwear, I don't wear low cut shirts or string bikinis (and wouldn't even if I had the bod), I don't' like raunchy sex jokes or talking about any ones sex life... makes me blush. So to me that was being modest. However I now consider myself super duper over the top modest. I hate having attention drawn to me for good or bad reasons, I would go out of my way not to accomplish something if I knew it would draw attention to me. What is interesting to me is the people I know in my world that are not modest are also outgoing and self confident. When I think about it most of the people I surround myself with and am close to are definitely NOT modest. I actually think I am jealous of their candor and ability to put it all out there. I think it might be too late for me to shed some of my hang ups and modesty but I hope I can figure out some way to make my girls be proud of their accomplishments and self assured without turning them into the girl in the bikini on American Idol.