Can I Just Be Me For A Change?
The world puts so many demands on us –people wanting us to do things, wanting us to do what they want, and/or putting us in a little box with certain expectations on our behavior. I am not saying that these demands, or wishes, or not necessarily bad intentioned, but for an afternoon, I decided just to be myself.
First, I thought of all the things that were pushing me around and all the feedback I had been hearing recently. “Ingrid, you need to be a little more assertive.”, “Ingrid, it would be really great if you could find the funds to re-do your kitchen.”, “Ingrid, did you gain a few pounds recently?”. For a few hours, I then decided to do what I truly felt like doing, and to help with this, I thought of myself as a child and what I would have done when I was small and perhaps closer to my true self than I may be today.
Our mind gets so caught up with what we and other people think, that we can easily forget who we are. Then, if we are not us, who will be? When I thought of this, a natural tear came to my eye because I got so sad that the world wouldn’t be able to experience the true me. My true self smiles, doesn’t worry, and is open to the world. Wouldn’t that stink if it hid behind all that thinking?
In response to these above examples, I decided to approach situations with gentleness, then I decided to stop racing around scenarios in my head to make more money to pay for the kitchen, and last but not least, I decided to eat what I wanted just for one meal.
As mentioned, I am not saying the wishes and demands on us are all bad. After a few hours of finding yourself, you too may come back to these demands and realize you want them too. If you do, you can be confident that at least you thought about them from a different perspective. Just for a break though, let it go and try on your true self again for size.
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