Lose Yourself

Who am I? One of the most simple questions with one of the most complex answers. The noun descriptors we use to answer this question, such as mom, wife, doctor, black, man, are all right answers, but only answer the question partially and truly only offer an answer that is relevant at that particular moment in time. As an exercise, write down all the nouns you’d use to describe yourself on a piece of paper. Once you’ve done that, go down the list one by one and ask yourself who you’d be if you were no longer that noun. For those who like to get the answers without the work, you’d find quickly that you’d still be you without those things, so although nouns may describe parts of you, you are not the things that describe you.

Today, we are awakening as a society to the ever present injustices of a system that makes it harder for those who do not use the descriptor nouns of straight, white or male. Everyone human on the planet suffers in some way, it’s part of the beautiful learning cycle of being human. However, not all humans have the same chance to flourish from their struggle just because of the nouns they both define themselves by, and get defined by. The first step to fixing anything outside of us, is to start inside of us. The more we define ourselves by the description of nouns, the more we define others by nouns and accept nouns as descriptions. Like blades of grass on a lawn, we may not be identical to one another, but we are all the same. If we work toward seeing ourselves as the beautiful spirits that are free of description, we can begin working toward being more inclusive of others and seeing them for their beauty. All the nouns that describe us are the things that make us unique, and we should celebrate them, but remember, they are not who we ARE. Today is the day to lose yourself and begin finding who you are, now is when you decide you are more. Never forget that you are not the things that you define you by. Live Well ❤️