One question continued to ring out during this time of reflection, Who Am I? Seems simple enough right? but it wasn't easy for me to answer. Of course the obvious I'm a woman..I'm a mother..I'm a wife..I'm a sister..I'm a friend....and the list goes on and on. but do any of these statements truly define who I am. I have done a lot of contemplating over the last week, and I have to be honest, with all of those titles I truly lost sight of my own identity. I know that it may sound a little strange to some, but when your busy juggling all of the every day task, and then trying to be what "other" people want you to be, you forget who you are. I thought about some of the things the Bible says I am. "I am fearfully and wonderfully made" Psalm139:14, " Head and not the tail; above and not beneath" Deuteronomy 28:13, " A Virtuous Woman is a crown to her husband" Proverbs 12:4, and so many more things that it would take me months to finish quoting, but I know you get the point. As I began this quest of seeking out Who I Am, I realized that I was looking for the answers with the wrong mindset. I was answering this question with what I thought other people would say about me...... WOW.... yep that's exactly my reaction.
We base our own identity on what other people know or think of us, that's when I had to dig deeper and ask the question, Is what other's think of me truly who I am? mmm mmm mmm yesss I went there. Some would say I'm friendly, smart, sweet, nice, compassionate, caring, etc.... some would say I'm fat, negative,bossy, naive, etc...and some of these things are correct (if you know me), yet some how I had to take in all the factors and really examine Who I Am. As human beings life is full of things that stop us from finding out who we are, at this point in my life I want to be as real as I can about ME, that's right ME I said it again. In order for me to be the best mother, wife, friend, sister and all the above mentioned items, I have to understand me. There are some situations in my life that have given me a wake up call to truly start the process of identification. Some good, some bad...and if I want to keep it real with myself I have to embrace all the pieces that make me, me. At the end of the day what I think of me is what matters...I see so many of us losing ourselves to low self esteem, low self imagine, doubt, depression, anxiety, and it's sad because we all have something great inside of us, it's just getting to the place of birthing that "Greatness".
"I am who I am and I love me!!! " even when people hurt me, abuse my friendship, twist my kindness, and mistreat my heart those are the words I utter to myself, and they make all the difference in the world when you are questioning who you are. It's a process when it comes to identifying Who You Are...life lasting process and it's not an easy one either, I just want to be the "BEST" me I can be.
I want to challenge those that read this, I challenge you to take a closer look at yourself, truly do some real self inventory and really understand what makes you, you all the ugly pieces as well as the beautiful ones, most importantly understand your worth and begin the journey of moving towards your propose, you can't go wrong.
