Accepting Who You Want to Be

Hello, everyone. Hope you had a good week! Today we are talking about accepting who you want to be. Last week we learned the truth about ourselves, the good and the bad. Now, we’re going to focus on the good.

Who do you want to be?

Read that question again. Who do you want to be? I was a depressing, complaining sort of person, once upon a time, but that’s not who I wanted to be. I wanted to be a writer who influenced others for good, a happy person that others wanted to be around. But I couldn’t get there by continuing to call myself “depressed,” “lonely,” “a loser.” Words have power, and I wanted to leverage that power to my benefit.

Write down who you want to be.

One great way to bring words out of your head and into reality is to write them down. Speaking is also very powerful and perfectly acceptable. For me, it was hard to stand in front of a mirror and say, “I am wonderful,” because I had such a low opinion of myself. But I could do something as simple as write down “I want to be a great writer,” “I am a great writer.”

I still have the notebook where I practiced using words to reprogram how I thought of myself.

I found inspiration everywhere, even the children’s book Harriet the Spy, which I had never read until three years ago. At the bottom of the page of quotes I took from Harriet the Spy, I wrote, “Hmm, when did I stop being a writer? When did I stop imagining?

You may recall a time when you were a much more vibrant person. Well, that person is still in there. You can become that person again.

Take time today to write down or speak out who you want to be. Is there some dream you never fulfilled? Do you wonder how your life would turn out if you were to pursue that dream? Do you want to be happier, healthier, enjoy life more? Write it all down, or use some other method that works for you. Then remind yourself every day of who you want to be. Accept that you CAN be that person.

Next week, we’ll finish this month’s topic with talking about how to use your imagination to become who you want to be. That negative person we imagined ourselves into being is about to be replace with a better version of ourselves. We’ll created a different kind of image for ourselves. The “imaginary you” -- what you imagine about yourself -- whether good or bad, becomes the real you. Don’t miss our last week in this series. See you right back here next week!

Next week: Creating the Real You (our final post in the series The Imaginary You: Finding and Becoming the Real You)