Who Do You Think You Are?

Disclaimer: Real quick — I am not a therapist. Not even a little bit. What I am is someone who has been through it, come out on the other side, and refuses to keep the lessons to myself. I write from lived experience, not a clinical manual. If anything here speaks to something deeper that you feel you need real support with, please don't hesitate to reach out to a professional. That's not weakness — that's wisdom.

There is a passage that has stayed with me for a long time. For the past two days, I watched 2 completely different movies (Coach Carter & Akeelah and the Bee) without realizing this very quote would surface twice. I always say there is no such thing as coincidence, so let's get to it.

*"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within. It is not just in some of us - it is in everyone. And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."*

--Marianne Williamson, "A Return to Love"

Let me tell you what that means to me.

My deepest fear has never been that I am incapable. I know what I can do. I have survived things that should have broken me and built things from nothing.

Capability was never the question.

My deepest fear is myself.

The thought of actually taking a chance on me--fully, without holding back, without one foot in and one foot out the door--has kept me up at night more than anything else ever has.

And when I sat with that long enough to get honest about it, the questions started coming.

Am I deserving of this? Am I worthy of what I am asking for? Was I actually created in the image of The Most High, and if I was, then why do I keep acting like I wasn't?

My truth is that I AM. And your truth is that YOU ARE, TOO.

We are worthy of every blessing, every opportunity, every door that opens, and every dream that will not leave us alone no matter how many times we try to talk ourselves out of it. That is not arrogance. That is divine alignment. There is a difference between thinking you are better than everyone and simply knowing that you were made for something - and deciding to stop apologizing for it.

I spent many seasons of my life shrinking. Making myself smaller so others would feel more comfortable around me. Dimming what I knew was in me so I wouldn't seem like too much. And all that did was keep me from the very things I was created to walk in.

Embracing my light is not something that came easy; in fact, it's something I still struggle with. I have to make myself choose to be intentional about doing it.

A selfless thought that I hold with me to help me help others is that every time I step fully into who I was made to be, something happens around me. People start to shift. They start to ask questions. They start to believe that maybe they can too.

So I want to ask you what this passage asked me:

"Who are you not to be?"

Not who do you think you are-who are you not to be? Not stepping into your purpose is not humility. It is fearing wearing the costume of modesty. And the world does not need your fear. It needs your light.

Walk in it. Unapologetically. Fully. On purpose. ❤️

Because someone is waiting for you to go first.