I was searching for another one of her videos, when I stumbled on this one by Iyanla Vanzant. Ms. Vanzant is a powerful speaker and "relationship expert". I got hooked on her when the girls at my office wanted to show me something from her television show. It wasn't long before I began following her on Facebook and watching her motivational videos.
This "Who Are You?" video speaks to me.... loudly. It speaks to be when I consider how I define myself. When I consider the person I am beyond the description of "therapist" or "Brett's wife". Beyond the hats that I wear on a daily basis, who am I underneath it all?
I think that a lot of people feel challenged to answer this question because we tend to look outside of ourselves for validation. We look to the roles we carry, the friendships we have, the things that we do and are for others. Ms. Vanzant encourages us to consider who we are in the dark, without television, laying on our backs... perhaps staring at the ceiling at 2:00 in the morning. She encourages you (and me) to consider who we are, not because of how other people tell us we are, but because we know it. We feel it. We believe it. We live it.
Who are you?
Ugh... truth is?? I'm not sure I know. I was born as Belinda and Jerry's daughter...and transitioned to Ike's wife, and now, Emma, Madeline and Grant's mama. I've never lived alone, went straight from being a child at my parents house to a wife at my own, and never really had a career despite completing the education to do so. So... who am I without any of that?? I have no idea.
ReplyDelete