My name is Shanna Mann.
It’s a bit tricky to write these things, because, really, what does it mean to know “about” a person? Here’s my latest shot at it.
What Makes Me Tick
I am always gratified by change. I like the challenge of adaptation, of remaining lithe and flexible.
At certain points, when the rate of change slows down, I am invigorated by refining what I’ve learned at the bleeding edge of (r)evolution.
You could say I’m a lover of novelty, an adrenaline junkie, a dabbler– –and those are all true.
But I figure change happens whether you want it to or not, so try to meet it in a time and place of your choosing.
Sure that doesn’t work every time. Shit can hit you out of left field. But surprisingly, it takes far less effort to figure out how to leverage your disappointments and setbacks than it does to brood over it.
Philosophy
Here’s my metric system for a gratifying life:
Have I gained in experience, ingenuity and intuition? Have I been adaptable, been forward-thinking, planned and been training so that my abilities pace my vision, and hopefully my opportunities? Have I been curious, engaged and open to stumbling across new “oceans of truth” instead of sticking with the known and the reliable? Have I analysed, synthesized and expanded on my knowledge, or do I simply hoard it? Do I divine systems, espying the fractals within the chaos, or do I in arrogance impose flawed and distorted geometric structures over reality and tell myself I’ve mastered it?
That’s my recipe for self-satisfaction. Adding other people to the equation gets tricky. I only have one rule: Listen. Listen to others, and listen to myself.
Honesty is not always the key. Neither is openness. Or being helpful. Or being tough. But if I listen to them, and I listen to myself, I always know what to do.
Foibles
I’ve been told I’m abnormally confident. A few have even snarkily mentioned the Dunning-Kruger effect (ouch!) But what actually happens is that I’m extremely confident about a few things, and that makes me relatively confident about a lot of other things.
For instance, I’m extremely confident that I can learn quickly and easily. I don’t believe there is very much I wouldn’t be capable of learning, at least at a basic level. That means I don’t sell myself short about what I can and can’t understand, who I can and can’t talk to or what I can and can’t do. Because of that, the question foremost in my mind is not, “Can I do this?” it’s “How do I do this?” Personally, I’m distressed that people seem to consider not asking yourself the former question to be arrogance.
I’m also in love with ideas. I lack the time to do anything with most of them, but I love to play with them like a toddler plays with blocks.
Humble Brag
It’s also helpful to know where a person is coming from, so in no particular order…
- I have my trucker’s license, and I worked on the rigs in the oil and gas industry for three years.
- I swear a lot. I’ll try to tone it down if you let me know it bothers you.
- I have had a traumatic brain injury, the recovery of which is an epic tale in and of itself.
- I am impossible to shock. Try me.
- I was raised on a ranch, in a large, tight-knit family. I am the oldest. We are all crazy.
- I studied Historical Socio-Linguistics in university: how language affects culture and history. I dropped out to drive truck.
- I’ve worked more blue-collar jobs than white-collar ones. I still don’t know what I do in an office all day.
- I’ve run several businesses including a retreat centre, a small contractor company and an alternative health practice.
- Right now, I’m running a business with my best friend. I see a few select clients. I write a lot. I garden.
- I’m still working on not working too much. It seems I am congenitally incapable of not building things.
- I’m really, really good at just a few things. I can see what makes people tick. I can consume vast amounts of information and synthesize in useful ways. And I see frameworks and systems in everything, which makes me good at discerning how things work.
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