Who Do You Think You Are?

Yes, you.

You’re the one I’m talking to.

Who do you think you are?

Who do you think you are that you have a right to be here, a right to get what your beautiful heart desires, a right to see your dreams come true? Who do you think you are to have what someone else has, to get what they’ve got, to talk like you do, to think like you do, to express yourself the way you do, to walk like you do, to carry yourself like you do, to do what you do? Who?

Sound familiar?

These are the words that define you. These are what you’re allowed to do.

Making. Trying. Striving. Hoping. Sometimes begging. Longing. Cajoling. Pleading. Often begging.

But these ones - Come sparkle. Come dance. Come thrive. Come live. With me. With all of us.

Not these.

You’re not pretty enough, smart enough, thin enough, strong enough, confident enough, beautiful enough. Not enough, never enough. Who do you think you are?

You know what’s in here? Proving yourself. Explaining yourself. Apologizing for yourself.

But why? To whom?

It’s the voice that’s never far from you. Taunting you with everything you’re not. Making fun of you for being some kind of imposter, and accusing you of being someone you’re only pretending to be.

Why is this the first voice we hear when we step out of our comfort zone, when we try something new, take that first step, stand up for something we believe in that we realize we can’t stay silent about anymore, even if it’s just using our own voice instead of mimicking someone else’s?

It’s because this is the voice we heard, the loudest one we heard growing up.

It’s uncomfortable when we change, when we grow, when we come onto our own and can no longer be placated into being our quiet, whatever goes, whatever someone else wants, easy-going selves. Not for us (it’s so releasing for us!) but for them. We’re no longer contained, no longer neat and tidy and controllable. This is so uncomfortable for the ones who have an investment in us being who we’ve always been.

So how do we address this once and for all?

How do we quell those voices in our heads that are so quick to judge us with those powerful triggering words that bring us out of the state of our power into defending ourselves for who and what we have EVERY right in the world to be?

Stop comparing yourself and your experience to anyone else. Stop looking at whether it was enough to grant you access to the “I have a right to be here” secret club and simply open the door and let yourself in.

There will always be those who take this advice to the extreme. Who use it as a permission to be aggressive or a bully or otherwise mean.

They aren’t the ones I’m talking to here. You are.

Answer that voice. Answer the questions. Who do you think you are? Know who you are. Own who you are. Accept and acknowledge who you are.

If it’s not good enough to grant you entrance into whatever secret club it feels like you’re only good enough to be on the edges of, ask yourself why. Is it because you’re not enough to have the right to be there, to be here, to be right where you are?

Or is it because it’s not the place for you and not the fit you thought it would be?

Even more, are these the people whose opinion you actually care about? Or have you moved on and simply forgotten that fact in the process?

Don’t go back to a place you’ve outgrown that no longer serves you. Stand tall in the light of who you are, of who you’ve always been but have only forgotten about somewhere along the way. That’s powerful.

And if you don’t know who you are, if you don’t know why you have every right to stand up straight and tall and  hold your head up high owning exactly who you are, knowing exactly who you are, that’s a sign it’s time to find that out so you CAN own every part of who that is.

Who do you think you are? Try this answer instead.

I’m me. And I have every right to be here, to be walking in my shoes, to be holding my head up high and owning every part of who I am, how I got here, and what it took to get here.

Be you, Beautiful. Unapologetically you. What you discover in answering that question is all the answer you need!

Love,

Jane

Are you hearing this from someone? Who are you answering to? Answer your own question of who you are and why you have every right to be here being you in the comments below so we can all celebrate you! You know who you are; don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!