BE YOU

I tried to be who I believed others expected me to be, and as a result, I was labeled a liar or an

honest person, a cheater or a faithful person, a sinner or a saint, a thief or a giver, a whore or a

good, holy woman, and so much more. If I’m going to practice accountability, they are right: I

was all of those things, and there is nothing to be ashamed of. Our experiences shape who we

are, but it is we who diminish those experiences by defining them with a single word or

meaning, which often leaves us feeling as if we are never enough. In order to have one identity,

we feel we must eliminate the other. But who are we without our experiences? How can we

understand the magnitude of our experiences if we continue to reduce them to words or labels,

as if everything has an expiration date? Throughout my life, I was told who I was and who I

should be. I tried living under those conditions and that identity, only to discover that I was

unaware of my authentic self.