This marked one of the most life-defining moments for me. I’m forever grateful that we took half a day on my 30th birthday trip to lie on the beach and allow myself time to reflect and journal.
The typical doer and planner in me almost automatically wrote down my goals for the new year, or my 5-10 year plan seeing that I was going to step into a new decade of life. But something in me told me to stop. Stop planning. Stop doing. And start getting to know myself all over again.
And so I followed. I had no idea where I was headed, but I started by writing the words, “I AM” on the page, and began to search myself honestly. I wrote down all the attributes I know that I am, but being someone who was raised to be modest and humble, I found the first few points to be extremely difficult. But then I knew, unless I’m being fully honest with myself, I wouldn’t be able to truly KNOW myself. And I really wanted to do that.
Then I turned the page and wrote, “I WOULD LIKE TO” (instead of I AM NOT, because I wanted to improve and not admit that I’m stuck with my weaknesses) and listed down all the things I knew I needed to improve on. I would like to be more Present. Punctual. Spiritual. And the list went on.
Then I took a long look at both the lists, and realised just how liberated I felt at that moment. I suddenly felt connected with my BEING, and at that moment I truly felt proud to be who I AM. As someone who has been doing and doing and achieving all my life, this moment of getting to know myself never really happened before. And that was when I’m reminded,
“We shouldn’t plan on what to do. Instead, we should plan on who we want to be.”
“When you know who you ARE, you will know what you can DO.”
Since then, I’ve never felt more self-assured. I can face any adversity knowing that my identity and value does not lie in my DOING, but my BEING. WHO I AM is something nobody can take away from me, and I know that if one day any of my life plan failed, I can always move on to the next thing and still thrive because it is not what I’m doing that defines me, but what I’m capable of INSIDE.
And today, I encourage all my ladies to do the same- to Own Your Narrative.
#iwd2020 @ Phuket, Thailand
