Have you ever looked in the mirror and not known who you are? When I left high school and came to the University of Illinois, I, for some reason still unbeknownst to me, decided to throw my life into a state of complete upheaval. Everything that I knew about who I was changed within a matter of a few weeks. My appearance radically changed, I fractured long term relationships, and changed my way of thinking. After a while, however, this new way of life began to take its toll on me. I lost track of the real me. I couldn’t tell when I was being myself and when I was putting on a show for others. I’ve often been accused of having a chameleonic personality, where I will drastically change my manner of acting and thinking depending on who is present. But then again, knowing that fact would require knowing a fact about myself, which I can’t be sure is true since people say that I have changed.
Who am I? I don’t know, and it could quite possibly be the best thing that ever happened to me. I realized that by not knowing who I am, I eliminate all boundaries that could keep me from being all that I can be. All the time that I have spent soul searching and wondering who I am has been wasted. Why wonder who I am when I can be the person I want to be. If I want to skate down the street singing, I’ll do it. I did it tonight!
Next time you look in the mirror or the next time someone asks you who you are, remember that you aren’t your name, your profession, your major, your school, your team, your bank account, or your friends. You are whoever you want to be, and if anyone ever tells you differently, they deserve the beat down yo.