Being Yourself

One of the things that has always bugged me is when people say, "Just be yourself, Rachel." It makes me think, "But what if I don't know who I am? What about THAT?!"

See, this is something that I struggled with for a very long time. It went so far that I almost developed an eating disorder (but that's another story, you can read about it on a different blog post, "my testiomony"). It was quite an experience to get to know myself, and it still is. What I've realized is that no one is fully themselves until the day they die and join Jesus. He is a part of us, and we cannot be complete without him. Becoming our true selves takes a lifetime.

However, I know that I want to be God's creation, not anybody else. I want to act the way He wants me to act, I want to be interested in the things He wants me to be interested in, and I want to grow into the person He wants me to be. To do that, we all need to know ourselves.

I'm still getting to know myself, but I've placed a couple of tips below that got me started on my long journey. THESE ARE NOT STEPS. Everyone is different. Everyone realizes who they are at a different, unique pace and in different, unique ways. These are just some of the key factors that I know helped me tremedously.

1. Know Jesus as your personal savior. There is no way that anyone in the world can truly know themselves if they do not know the one who created them. He is not a puzzle piece; He is the Inventor of the puzzle!

2. Always be honest with yourself. Lying to yourself or your friends only creates dents in your life. Slowly, you begin to put yourself in a box, trying to measure up to the girl you've created through your lies. It creates jelousy and bitterness.

3. Always try something new.This helps you realize different things about your personality. I started volleyball when I was younger and discovered that I have a competitve side. A friend of mine tried an art class and realized how creative she can be. You should see this girl's room!!!!

4. Stay away from TV shows and teen magazines. Don't get me wrong, a lot of them are pretty good. But they give off the air that every girl need to be perfect, and then we all start changing ourselves to fit into the world's idea of the perfect girl. I have no problem with the show Victorious, but one episode left me feeling troubled. A girl needed to pop a zit, and this was caught on tape and shown on the school website. Suddenly, people were laughing at her and staring at her zit. ONE ZIT. Don't we all get them? Also, it was a zit that viewers convenietly couldn't see........

5. Create a collage!!!!! This isn't really for everyone, but I really liked doing it. I actually got the idea from a book I read. Spend twenty minutes cutting out pictures you really like. You don't have to have any reason besides, "I just like it!" Photography magazines work best. Fashion reads, not so much. Organize 'em anyway you want on a poster board, and then come up with one sentence that you would use to describe the picture. Look at all the pictures as one, not as a bunch on a page.

I found that these are very contributing factors. As you all continue on your journey, comment or message me and let me know how your collages turn out or let us all know what you discover about yourself! Love ya all!