Most people don’t know my story because it isn’t easy for me to share. Born to a young, single, bipolar mother and adopted by my father at the age of four, I had a tumultuous childhood that often ebbed and flowed with my mother’s mental illness. Growing up in an unstable household was likely a contributing factor to my desire for control. This led to me being a perfectionist and a competitive child who grew into a people-pleasing, anorexic teenager. Despite being well into recovery now, many of the typical traits remain. I am still an over-achiever, a people-pleaser, and a poor boundary creator. Those are traits that belong to me, but they are not who I am.
Can any of us truly share the story of who we are? Isn’t the beauty of life that who we are today does not have to be who we are tomorrow, that we are constantly reinventing ourselves, that it’s never too late to start anew?
Twenty years ago, I was a scared child. Ten years ago, I wanted to disappear. Today, I am grateful for my life and discovering how I want to live it. Who will I be in ten years? In twenty? In thirty? My hope is that the answer to this question will differ greatly and wildly each time it is asked, for that means I am growing and evolving into the person I was always meant to be.
If you’re racking your mind trying to understand who you are today, try again tomorrow. You may be someone entirely different – that’s the beauty of life.
Algonquin College Social Media Certificate Program 