Just Stay You

I was reading something the other day and the phrase “Just stay you” jumped off the page at me.

Just Stay You.

In a world that is constantly pulling us in all directions to “try this” and “be that” and “do this” and “life is short”…it gets complicated and confusing. Add that with the fact that life is racing by at lightening speed and “live longer”, “be healthier” and “become all you can be”, well it all gets a little overwhelming.

If you start looking at the concept of just stay you, be true to who you are,  and discover what drives you; what you are passionate about, suddenly all those flashing neon signs that are constantly vying for our attention begin to dim as we turn our focus to just say who we were meant to be.

For many of us (me, me, me!) it may take a while to find out who you are in order to just stay you. We often get so caught up in being who “they” tell us to be that we don’t even know how to just stay you. We come to think of ourselves as what we do instead of who we are. We become a spouse, a parent, a friend, always busy doing all the important things that come with those parts of who we are that we get lost in the shuffle. And if you’re a mother, oftentimes you don’t discover that you’ve lost yourself until the kids are grown and out the door.

We get time to prepare along the path of motherhood; the kids need us less and less, exactly how it is supposed to go, but we don’t recognize it. We still keep fulfilling the role off Mom, without noticing that our kids aren’t really paying attention anymore.

If you are like me, becoming a mother was a long awaited for aspect of  life. I wanted to be a mother in the worst way, and it didn’t happen until I was thirty years old. Granted, that doesn’t sound very old by today’s standards but watching one friend after another become a mother for the first, second and third time before I became pregnant was a difficult road to walk.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. I know without a doubt that I am exactly where I am supposed to be, and the path that was uniquely mine is the exact journey I was created for.

I also know that to just stay me is a process and definitely NOT a destination. I will just stay me one day at a time, as I embrace every new event and situation that comes my way. I have a growing trust just for today, that my life is exactly as it should be.

And that tidbit of truth will allow me to just stay me… just for today.

I hope you join me in this journey too, and just stay you.