Why me? Why this blog?

The idea of "identity" is something that has intrigued me for as far back as I can remember.  Of course I didn't know "identity" is what I was thinking about when I was a child.  As I got older, learned more in school, about the world around me, about myself I immersed myself into the idea that who I am matters.  And more importantly, who I wanted to be, whatever that happened to be, really mattered.

I was fortunate to have a mentor during my undergraduate years who taught me by example and through complete acceptance, that I could be whoever I wanted to be and would not be rejected or judged (more on that another time...I fully tested this!).  He was an existentialist fully aware of what it means to be a human being.  I always had the sense that he wasn't pretending or looking for a reaction from others when he'd say something shocking.  He was just being Larry.  This was poignantly confirmed when he was dying from cancer.  His wife told me that even when he was in a great deal of pain and knew that the end of his life was near he reached out to her with words of comfort: "It's okay.  This is all part of the human condition."

I was pushed and pulled in all sorts of directions growing up.  By friends, peers who weren't friends, family, co-workers, employers.  You name it.  We all experience this.  I figured out quickly what others expected of me and goose-stepped my way in line.  Figuring out when others changed direction so I wouldn't be out of step.  That worked for awhile I suppose but guess what?  I wasn't very happy.

Somewhere along the way I desired happiness.  Somewhere along the way I realized one of the most important things I could do for myself was to be me.  Period.  Happiness followed.

Am I happy all the time?  Of course not.  Life has a way of reminding us that we don't always get a say in things.  However, I get to decide how I'm going to deal with what life hurls at me.  I get to decided.  Period.

So, there's more to my journey.  More to my quest for authenticity and being Self Strong and that's what this blog is about.  My journey and the journey of those who intersect with my life.

Here's to you and being Self Strong!

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