Who are you?

If I asked you who you are or what defines you, what would you say? Most people would say what they do for a living ie: I’m an athlete, an actor, a welder, an business owner, a student, etc. This is a mistake many of us make; being defined entirely by something that can be taken away from us and letting that thing hinder us in reaching our full potential. What do I mean by that? Say you’re an athlete, being a high school athlete got you a scholarship to college, and from college you were planning on going pro. But, say you get injured in college and that trashes your scholarship and your dreams of going pro. You sank everything into being an athlete every ounce of your being, your reason for breathing was to be an athlete and now you’ll never be an athlete ever again. Now what? Now you’re lost. You have no idea who you are outside being an athlete. Now your options are figure out who you are outside the athlete identity or bury yourself in despair and self pity for losing the thing that you thought made you, you. We all wear many different hats (as my therapist calls it). Myself, for example, I identity with many different roles in my life such as a mom, a co-parent, a wife, a daughter, a recovering addict, a felon, a sister, a friend, a student and probably lot of other things that aren’t top of mind at the moment. That being said, not one of these roles envelopes my identity entirely. I am a spiritual being, filled with light and love on an endless quest to learn and improve and share my knowledge, my missteps, my strength, and hope with anyone that needs it. I wear many hats, they don’t define who I am, but that have helped me discover who I am and who I want to be. I am ever growing and ever changing, making new mistakes all the time but hellbent to learn from them and not repeat them. Don’t let one role define who you are. Find who you are outside of any of those. What makes you, you? Who are you? Who do you want to be?