Are you in there somewhere? Has it been a long time since you’ve come face to face with yourself? Life can bog you down and take you off your path and to unforeseen avenues you never dreamt of. Sometimes it’s difficult to find your way back and sometimes it’s just easier to keep going in the same direction. The work isn’t always simple and at certain times in your life, it can take quite a bit of focus. Are you ready to reconnect with YOU? You may just discover someone new, enlightened, courageous, driven, resilient and dying to be seen.
Try and remember where you might have taken a different turn and loss touch with yourself. It’s not easy to pinpoint. The logical place to start is in the beginning but do you ever really know who you are as a child? Sure you have dreams…BIG dreams but are you really in touch with who you are and what you are supposed to be? I love the innocence of a child though. They believe in themselves and see obstacles as challenges. They aren’t cynical or judgemental and they haven’t accepted the labels that life will eventually throw at them.
In elementary everyone likes everyone small like them, they don’t see differences in the same way…it’s just another little person who wants to play. When we start dividing into groups and clicks we start seeing a difference and learning judgments good and bad. We start hearing negativity and we start believing it. It can shape the way we see the world around us and our place in it.
I always wanted to be an actress from the time I could talk. My Dad has a tape of me saying at age 5 I was going to be a movie star so if I mentioned anything else, it was never noted. It was probably fitting had I gotten my big break. I was super outgoing, never met a stranger, and fearless. I’m not saying I had any talent but I was definitely willing. Not much has changed there I’m still an extrovert but through the years I have learned a little more about fear and wearing my heart on my sleeve. Oh, I still reach out to strangers but I would say I’m a little more guarded.
Doesn’t life do that to you? Heartache, trauma, and pain will shape your personality. At times it can put distance between you and the world and you and yourself. Each layer of experience and callous we pile on top pushes the bright-eyed dreamer further down until she might be hard to find or recognize.
PsychAlive says: The greatest and most important adventure of our lives is discovering who we really are. Yet, so many of us walk around either not really knowing or listening to an awful inner critic that gives us all the wrong ideas about ourselves.
Start by uncovering you past and challenging your perceptions. It’s easy to pick up or absorb the ideas, concepts and even bad habits from parents and caregivers. If left unchallenged they become a part of our being whether we identify with them or not. You are growing and evolving and what was acceptable at one stage of your life may have no place today.
- What do you like?
- What don’t you like? Almost as important
- What do you value
- What do you want to do?
- What are you good at?
- What would you like to do better?
Take some time in finding the answers. This can be exciting and definitely the fun part of the journey.
You are never too old, too lost, or too set in your ways to reinvent yourself. You may not be able to escape the pressures of life to make a radical leap in a new direction BUT, you can find time in your schedule to dedicate to your own self-discovery. Your strength, awareness, and healthy self-concept will only help you in every aspect of your life so it should be a priority.
CHALLENGE: Get creative because you are important – your health, well-being, and happiness and important. Don’t accept a lack of identity, don’t put your goals on pause, don’t settle for fulfilling someone else’s dreams. Take time to explore and creatively find YOU!
I Know YOU Can Do It!