Today, my recommendation is to grab your favourite drink! After all, that's part of what makes you who you are. And that's what I'm talking about today.
Who I am.
One of the amazing things about this time I've been taking for my health is that it's been forcing me to spend time with myself. Really, properly myself. Without assignments and business to hide behind. Without other people's expectations to fit into. The result of this is that I've begun to reclaim pieces of myself I thought I had lost, or doubted that I ever had.
I know I've touched on this is previous posts, but I wanted to talk about it more today.
Over the last month when I haven't been posting, I have still been writing. I've started writing poetry again. I used to love it, then I stopped.
I've been writing short stories again. I've been building worlds, creating characters. I've been writing creatively, for the fun of it. And each time I do, I walk away feeling just that little bit more like me.
See, I think that part of the challenge over the last few years is that I've been trying to fit into what other people want. I folded away my creativity so I could focus on academia. I regulated my spiritual life so that I could be approved of. I buried my confidence so that I wouldn't stand out.
I had spent my life being different. I wasn't always liked for it, I wasn't always happy about it, but I accepted it. With uni, I decided to try being the same. And that hasn't been working for me.
Because I'm not the same. I'm a girl who jumps around the house while she's reading because she gets so excited. I'm a girl who runs in the rain, and come in soaked to the skin. I'm a girl who'll turn up the music and dance around my room.
I'm a girl who loves tea and chocolate. I'm a girl who adores flowers. I'm a girl who walks in imaginary worlds.
I'm a girl who speaks best with pen and paper. I'm a girl who loves exploring the world through the camera lense. I'm a girl who'll spend hours looking at yarn and gets excited over lace patterns. I'm a girl who bakes new things and wants to share it.
I'm a girl who wears leather and heels, and has tattoos. I'm a girl who wears pink dresses. I'm a girl who wears long skirts and nice blouses.
I'm a girl who has lived in many different places, and therefore sees the world a little differently. I'm a girl who is learning to love herself, just the way I am. I am a girl who loves God and trusts Him with her life.
I'm all this and more.
And you know what the best thing is? As I've been reclaiming bits of who I am, I can almost hear God cheering in the background, celebrating as I discover the part of His extraordinary Creation that is me.
I still have a long way to go - this is a process that will take my entire life. But I have a question for you today: who are you? What do you love?
I'm starting to realise that one of the best ways we can love and serve God is by embracing who He made us to be and then sharing that.
So love the Lord with all your heart, be yourself and share that with the world.
Love,
Laura Dee
PS I'd love to share my poetry with you all. Why don't you join me on Instagram where I will be posting it? And photos, of course
PPS enjoy these photos from my holidays!
