Who are you?

It's funny how many of us do not know quite how to answer that question. Most of us give a short version of the answer. For many, this can feel like a loaded question. Sometimes the response requires a bit more self-reflection than one would like to admit. Truth is the majority of us do not like self-evaluation, especially in response to another individual. But what if this particular question was self-imposed? When was the last time you did an identity check? There is nothing wrong with a routine identity check-in.

During this life, we change and change often. I am not the same woman I was five years ago. Nor am I the same as I was two years ago. Each year we all continue to change and grow a little more from the year before. It is completely natural. Monitoring these changes become part of our self-care routine; it opens us up to positive and negative changes that we have made over time.

Recently I was getting off of work and that I was thinking about what was the next direction that I wanted to take my career and my business over the next year. As I was walking out of the building, I realized how much I had changed over the last nine years. There were changes I love and some of the changes I don't like at all. I realized that during the process of building my business that there were parts of me that I began to neglect. Truth is I knew that I was neglecting little things in my life that I love but thought it was all about the sacrifice of becoming a business owner. Over that last few years, I noticed that a writer/creative/entrepreneur had become who I became. Oh, and single I can't leave out that part. So out of all of those little whimsical details that make me who I am. I had reduced myself to a creative/writer/entrepreneur without a man. I'd allowed all of my little joys and passions to fall by the wayside. I needed that checkup to force me to into realizing I need to make some self-care changes.

One of the best ways that I have been able to continue routine self-checks is journaling. Daily journaling in the morning allows me to be honest with myself at the very beginning of my day. Honestly, some mornings journaling is better than others. Journaling has also given me a way to become more accountable for my actions and emotions about myself, my life, and how I describe me. Whenever we allow ourselves to be open and honest, there may be some emotions that we may need to concentrate on healing. However, I am healing is a very strong self-descriptive.

Lou W. Hargrove