Being Yourself

Today we talked about a thought-provoking comment that was left on the blog previously. It read:

"I don't know exactly who I am so it is really hard to be myself when I can't exactly! What can I do to find out who I am? It is really hard to deal with everyone saying 'act like yourself' when you don't know who that is."

The Sisters in both lunches had a lot to say about this.

The A Lunchers said:
* You can find yourself by asking 'WHO CARES?' before doing something and realizing that if you don't care what people think and you do what you want to do anyway, that's being yourself. Be the person who can say 'SO WHAT!' and surround yourself with true friends who don't judge you for what you do or who you are.
* Just take a look at your true personality.
* Important possessions can help you define yourself.
* When you find your purpose, you can be yourself more easily.
* A teacher Sister said, it's not necessarily DOING, it's just BEING. We get so busy that our lives become full of habits and routines and that can create patterns where we just go through the motions and play a role. Sometimes that isn't really who we are. We need to push doing aside, make some quiet time for ourselves and think about what makes us feel most alive? What are our passions? What makes us happy? Just be.
* Sometimes it's hard to find out what YOU like vs. what your friends like.
* It takes a little more energy to find out what you truly like.

*It's like there is another girl (your true self) living inside your brain. In order to meet her, you have to ask yourself,'Am I shadowing someone else or am I leading my own path?'

* In Harry Potter Book 3, there are boggarts (your greatest fear that the Hogwarts kids have to learn how to banish). For some of us, our boggarts might be ourselves.
* I don't know if I'm brave or scared, shy or outgoing. And I wonder about how people view me vs. how I view myself. I'm more scared than people think.
* Maybe we're all of the above, brave and scared, etc., depending on the circumstances?
* Look from every angle at yourself.
* Through writing, I can figure out things about myself.
* There's a difference between knowing yourself and being yourself. Even if you know yourself well, you still have to work every day to BE yourself, to be your own authentic person. It's hard.
* I wonder what other people see in me.
* When you have a friend who's behind you, she will support you and go with you through whatever you do. This helps you be yourself.

The BLunchers spoke passionately about this, as well. They said:

* A year ago, I was exactly in this girl's shoes. I did what I love and nothing else. Lately, I've been trying out new styles I like. I'm excited to wear them and I don't care what people think!
* Stay true to what you believe in and what you like to do.
* If you're being yourself and your friends don't like it, they are not really your friends.
* Being yourself is being a trendsetter, whether people follow you or not.
* Being yourself is defined by who you're not. If you don't like someone's behavior, then THAT'S NOT YOU.
* In middle school, we change so much, we're all still discovering who we are.
* It's doing what you want because you want to. It's hard to find yourself.
* I'm trying lots of different things. My mom has a lot of restrictions about my choices, but we try to compromise.
* Little kids don't care what others think. We could learn from them.
* There's a song called 'Be You' that helps.

* To find yourself, you have to release yourself and allow yourself to be who you are. My grandma taught me that it's my choice and I don't have to do something I don't want to do.

Then we got off on a little tangent about grandmas...but it was good stuff:
* My grandma helped me find who I am.
* Grandmas know you well enough to see who you are.
* My grandma and I talk every day, and I even talk about guys with her!
* Grandmas get that now is the time for us to be independent.
* I'm closer to my grandma now that we moved out of state.
* I trust my dad more than anyone.
* I have an aunt I can talk to.
* I can always call my grandma to talk...she's a great person to talk to.

Keep it up, Sisters. Keep finding yourselves and work hard to be that person, because...SHE'S GREAT!