Leap of faith

Before now, I was not one to believe in destiny or fate. I believed things were accidental and coincidental. However, after recently finding faith, I can honestly say that things happen for a reason; although the reason is not always known, in due time all is revealed. In my last post I mentioned my struggle in finding a  job that suited me, this along with other questions about my future have been on my mind. But interestingly enough, today, while searching for an old letter, I can across a book written by Maria Shriver entitled, 'Just Who Will You Be?'

This book was given to me by my great uncle on the day of my graduation a year ago, where coincidently Maria Shriver's husband Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was our commencement speaker. Shortly after arriving home, I found out that I had been accepted into grad school, and spent the entirety of the summer preparing for that large venture. Needless to say, although the book was small, I placed it in a drawer with every intention of reading it...someday. Well today was that day. I picked up the book, which I had seen hundreds of times, and decided to read it.

I find that in this time, where I'm trying to truly find myself, this book posed an important question "Who do you want to be?" I realized then that I had been asking myself the wrong question my whole life, I was trying to figure out WHAT I wanted to be, instead of WHO. For a lot of my life, I measured my worth through my accomplishments. I think this was the only way I felt I could make my parents proud, although they never placed any pressure on me. I am fortunate enough to say that I have accomplished a great deal in my 23 years of life, but the problem is, is that in between accomplishments I often felt bad about myself. As I read Maria Shriver's book, she stated that the only way you can feel worthy, and really good about yourself - the only way to find a life of meaning and joy - is to find your on voice, find your own path, follow your own heart, and live your own life, not an imitation of somebody else's. So then I asked myself what is my path, what's my heart telling me, who do I want to be?

I took some time to think about this, and I came up with my answer. I want to be a better person. This is not to say that I am not already a good person, but I want to be better then who I've been. I want to be more understanding and tolerable of people's differences. I want to be a more positive thinker. I want to be someone who seizes the day, everyday.

This is who I want to be, this is who I will strive to be everyday. I find it important to pass on this question as it was given do me, ask yourself WHO not what do you want to be?