Identity. A simple 8 letter word from which so many things crop up; both good and bad. Confidence, low self esteem, homosexuality are just but a drop of the myriad of issues which swim around this "identity" term.
I'm not the shoes I wear, I'm not the clothes I buy
I'm not the house I live in, I'm not the car I drove no,
I'm not the job I work, You can't define my worth
By nothing on God's green earth My identity is found in Christ...
...Identity is found in the God we trust, any other identity will self destruct.."
Lyrics from the song "Identity" by my favorite gospel hiphop artiste, Lecrae. Man, I totally love this song! First time I heard it was a couple of years in high school, back when I was torn in between a not-so-little girl and a young woman, trying to find her niche in life. But I'll come back to this a little later.
My e-dictionary defines identity as: who you are.
Another definition goes something like: The identity of a person or a place is the characteristics they have that distinguish them from others.
Okay, truth be told, I've been rather disturbed of late. Looking around my environment, it's rather evident that there's a certain wave of peer pressure that's being deeply taking root in people. In my opinion, this stems out from a lack of sense of worth and a great tonne of insecurity. I mean, there's a class of juvenile delinquents (I dare refer to them as such) who just hang out around each other all the time like a colony of little safari ants, downgrade and insult others to make themselves feel better, and most certainly think that being louder, moneyed and "bad" makes you that guy/girl. Not cool. Truth is, we were all born alone, and for sure we will return to dust SOLO! So the next time you decide to scream out YOLO with your buddies after downing yourself into a stupor from that lethal drink, remember that.
Back to my point...(clearly I digress a lot),it really helps to know who you really are, discover what makes you tick, find your true purpose in life, and ultimately find your identity in God. Just the other day, I bumped into a strange load of information. A certain blast from my past (not a cool blast, but a terrible one,ha!) was passing word round about how this mamacita (me) was miserable and could not live without him. This person further went to trash my name and said lotsa visibly false allegations. Guess what I did? I laughed! And that was it. I mean, if trying to make a sister feel small will give you sleep at night, knock yourself out honey! Thing is, I found who I was, what I wanted what my purpose was in life and that sure did not feature some people, so I cleared the clutter and here I am today.
I love sharing my experiences coz I believe there are some people out there that may identify with them. Back in high school, I faced a lot of rejection. Not very serious stuff, but I auditioned for some top notch clubs in school and unfortunately I did not get in to any of them. Needless to say, I was crushed, torn and heartbroken. To some this may not be a big deal, but for an overweight teenage girl battling with an illness and low self esteem, it is her world. I remember that day in form one, when I was "first formally rejected," I went to a certain tree, and cried my heart out...gawsh, I'm even getting teary as I write this. The following year was even worse. But in my third year, I hit rock bottom, my grades suffered immensely, as in, my report form had seen the range of the A's, the B's upto the E's, which was the last grade by the way! In a certain term, I was third from last in my class, yet when I joined secondary school I used be top of my class.
After I'd cried the tears till I could cry no more, I got tired and turned to my Maker; who was there all along by the way. And slowly, he lifted me up and gave me meaning for life. 3 years and a couple of heartbreaks later, here I am, happier than ever and thankful for the rain, coz it made me who I am today.
In short, NEVER ever peg your happiness or life on another person. That'll leave you unhappy, miserable and disappointed in the long run. I mean, God forbid, what if they die? what if they leave you? Does it mean your life's over too? Any time you feel tempted to look down on yourself, look into the mirror, and remind yourself that you are beautiful as you are, you are alive for a reason and God above all, loves you UNconditionally!!!
So, find yourself, find your IDENTITY,and be proud of that no matter what! There is no 'you' and there will never be anyone like you ever!!!
~When you stop chasing the wrong things, you give the right ones a chance to catch you~
Well said...that's deep.
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