Are you ACTING weird because you’re not BEING yourself?

Storytime…

The woman stood back and recalled a time when, as a young girl, her friend said, “Why are you acting so weird?” The girl didn’t know how to respond except to shrug her shoulders and giggle nervously. The woman, however, knew the answer. It was because she had been pretending to be what she thought was expected of her—what her friend believed her to be—because that was how she had always acted around her. It wasn’t the friend’s fault; it was all the friend had ever known about her.

The woman, upon reflection, understood that the friend had liked her for the person she appeared to be, but also didn’t like—or questioned—the way she was being because it wasn’t the persona she was used to. The girl had never given the friend a chance to know the real her because she didn’t believe she was enough. She had never been told she was enough. As a child, she was never taught that she was her own person. She had never understood that she was enough simply because she existed.

The woman knelt down in front of her daughter, grasped her tightly by the arms, looked her in the eyes, and said, “You are your own person. You are enough. You do not have to compromise or lessen yourself to be liked and accepted. Be strong. Don’t pretend to be like someone else who’s ‘popular’ just so they’ll like you. Remember, you are magic! And never forget, you are important and necessary. Do you understand?” 

The daughter smiled and nodded.