This week I ran into someone who I’d not seen in a long time.  He knew I’d made some big life changes in the last year and he said, “You’re really good at recreating yourself.” I wasn’t sure about that statement because I’d been thinking that I’d been trying to find myself this year. But maybe he was right.

Let’s be honest – We’ve cut down entire forests to support the magazines, which are filled with articles on this subject of “finding your true self.” And, why do we keep reading those articles?  Because, we’re never successful.  Because you can’t find yourself —   you create yourself!

Finding oneself is fatalistic.  It means you find it and then you’re done. Finding yourself is passive, whereas creating yourself gives you ownership over you and your future.

My life (and maybe yours) feels like a big jigsaw puzzle.  I’m constantly finding new pieces that fit into my puzzle, that I never saw before, as I’m wading through the 1000’s of pieces in front of me.  But this “finding me” really ends up being me “creating me.”

A big part of creating ourselves is being self-aware. Self-awareness means learning to pay attention to your inner self first and act on what you are seeing, hearing, and feeling instead of reacting to those outside forces that you have no control over.

So how do we learn the art of self-awareness?

First, we have to be friends with self-reflection.  We need to know where we are and why we’re here.  We don’t need to catalogue all the things we want to change.  And, we have to make sure we’re not doing things that others want us to do (unless we truly want to).

The whole point of self-awareness is listening to your inner voice and understanding and accepting who you are right now – with all your flaws.  We can’t really begin to create the self we want to be or the life we want to live without self-awareness.

Look, we direct and shape our own life in whatever way we want.  We’re doing it every day.  And, as we’re creating, we can leave the s*** behind that we don’t like.  We are not stuck!

So, as we move into the darker and colder days, let’s listen to our inner voice and find our passions. Don’t worry about getting it right, just do interesting, important, epic and valuable things.  And when you do, you’ll find that you’ve created a new you without even worrying about how you did it.

Our lives are a journey absent a destination – enjoy to ride.

Have a fantastic night!