Basta with comparisons: Just bloom!
A flower doesn’t think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms. ~Anonymous
Mi gente, you are here to be you. Nobody else. Like Oscar Wilde said: “Be you. All the other roles are taken.”
WARNING: The content of this post is NOT as delicate as the flower that might have caught your attention.
As a (VERY lucky) person adopted by amazing parents, I have no clue who constitute my biological roots or their people. Nor do I care. Like many affected by ever-changing adoption laws, my records are permanently sealed. This complete absence of history is nothing less than a blessing. Because my only option... is to be me.
For those who clamor about “needing” to know where they came from, who curse and cry about being disenfranchised, consider this: (1) There’s more than one population whose sense of identity is impacted by lack of, gaps in or assaults upon their narrative; (2) No matter what happened to your family or genetic predecessors, you’re still both lucky to be here and responsible for living your life.
It’s not like we get to trade it in for another. It’s not like we got a spare.
Because examples give us perspective, here’s a look at a woman who made her life her message:
“Identity is something that you are constantly earning (…) a process that you must be active in,” Maya Angelou told Bill Moyers in a 1973 interview. As a child, Angelou literally wrote her way out of selective mutism. To her, “words are things”— the tools she used to author her life and refute labels society imposed on her. “You only are free when you realize you belong no place… you belong every place… no place at all. The price is high. The reward is great.”
She didn’t edit herself in order to fit in: she belonged to herself. Chew on that a little bit.
Call it God, the Universe or Nature… whatever got you here clearly knew you were not just good enough to be part of the world— but needed by it. So stop doubting your worth— hips, hair, height, freckles, education, accent, dreams.
After all, we don’t compare apples and oranges. So why compare yourself to somebody else?!
pLoThoughts on… We only own one thing in this life outright: our story. If we don’t live it, nobody will. Basta with the comparisons! BLOOM!