Who Do You Think You Are, Anyway?

This is a question I think about a great deal.  For a long time, I don't think I knew the answer to this question.  More often than not, I was simply whomever you wanted me to be.  But with age (ahem), comes wisdom (hopefully) and a few years ago I started thinking about this more and more.  Who am I?

"Who am I?  Who AM I?  Who am I?!? I am the walrus..."  Sorry;  channeling The Breakfast Club there for a moment.

(The question also makes me think of this, which is now playing an infinite loop in my head.)

Anyway, I am all the usual things you'd expect.  A daughter.  A niece.  A cousin.  An auntie. A friend.  A Temple alum (go Owls!)  A youth leader.  An event planner.  An animal lover. An Aquarian.  A Christ follower.  A Subaru owner.  An iPhone devotee.  A Facebook addict. A blogger.  But I'm also someone who:

Loves to create...events, crafts, scrapbooks, photographs.  Spaces. Bonds between people.  Illusions of spontaneity (when I really had a plan all along.)

Loves people and getting to know people.  One of my favorite things in life is hearing how people met their spouses.  I have heard some really fantastic stories.

Is harder on myself than anyone else could be.

Is loyal to a fault.

Wants to help.

Cares.

Is easily frustrated.

Just wants people to pay attention sometimes.

The list could go on and on;  both "good" and "bad" attributes, overlapping.  But isn't that how it really is?  I posed the question on Facebook this week to see what sort of answers I'd get from my friends.  In the midst of many tongue in cheek responses, one friend said simply, "I am me.  There are too many facets to get into detail."

That comment made me think.  Aren't we all like that?  Full of facets, like a diamond?  Turn it this way and the light reflects.  Turn it another and capture its brilliance in a completely different way.

As I focus on my word for this year, I'll keep thinking about my many facets, about what makes me me and wonder how and where do I fit.

I'm determined to find out.

I Think About Blogging All The Time..

...yet when it comes to getting online and actually writing, something holds me back.  I posed the question on Facebook recently, "How can I call myself a blogger when I never blog?"  A friend challenged me to write at least once a week and, even though he didn't triple dog dare me, I am going to do my best.  

I just wonder if the blog is having an identity crisis, much like its owner.  I don't know where it fits in the blogosphere.  I'm not a "mommy blogger"; I'm not a crafty blogger (though I am starting to craft again but that is a post for another time.)  I'm not a cooking blogger (though I like to cook & have a whole Facebook album dedicated to my "creations.")  I'm not a religion blogger;  I'm not a business blogger.  At times, my blog has highlighted my views on these things but they've not been part of a pervasive theme.  Maybe it needs one.  Maybe it doesn't.  I just don't know.  

As I focus on my word for the year, I'm hoping that I find my "fit" in many different ways.  Maybe my blog will find it's fit, too.  

Just One Word...for 2013

Last year, I chose a focus word for the year:  purpose.  I'm not entirely sure I lived it out;  it's not like in the course of the year, I was divinely inspired to know my life's true purpose...but I will say I was much more in tune with the idea of "purpose".  Why was I doing what I was doing?  What did I feel strongly about?  What direction did I feel my life should take next?  In some ways, I think my word led me to the big move and the seismic shift in my whole life as I knew it.  It caused me to think, to try things, and to stop other things that didn't make me happy.  In those ways, maybe, it meant something.

And so I will try again.  New year; new word.

This year's word has several different connotations and that's truly why I think it fits...and the word is, actually, fit.  With my move, new job, new life...I am trying in many areas of my life to find the "right fit" for me - in a church, in volunteer work, in my social life, and so on.  I'm trying to find out where I fit in - at work, at church, in friendships and family relationships that are in flux.  And finally, I need to focus on my health and work hard to lose weight and get fit.

So there you have it.  I feel like this is a much more concrete word than last year;  perhaps at least as impactful!  Stay tuned....