So chocolate is my weakness when it comes to sweets. I just love chocolate. I decided in order to curb my chocolate craving I would attempt to keep a bag of Dove Dark Chocolate in my classroom and limit myself to two pieces a day…three on a Friday or a bad day depending which comes first. If you are familiar with this brand of chocolate then you know when you open the wrapper there’s always some sort of encouraging quote printed on the inside of the wrapper. I love that so that’s why I choose this brand of chocolate. Well, the very first piece I opened had this quote…”Be fearlessly authentic”.
I thought to myself, “Man! I love that quote!” It reminds me so much of what I have always wanted for myself, but maybe have not quite achieved. It is what I have tried very hard to teach my children to be. I have raised them to always be real, to be genuine, to embrace their individuality and mostly, due to their Christian faith, to “live in this world, but not of this world”.
We live in a society where being “fearlessly authentic” is not that easy to do. We are now suffocated on social media by “influencers”. Believe me…I’m guilty…I’ve totally been swallowed in by the Instagram Story world of home decorators, beauty bloggers and even teachers who have influenced how I desire my home to look, how I apply my make up and how my classroom looks. Sometimes I get down on myself because I can’t “keep up” with these people, nor do I have the time or resources to decorate the way they do or look the way they do. What is wrong with me?? I am such hypocrite! I am telling my kids to be original and true to themselves and here I am swooning over everyday people on social media!
Don’t get me wrong…I am not judging the influencers or anyone who enjoys watching them. I am just saying…more to myself than anyone…that it is easy to get caught up in a false sense of reality and who I really am and what I truly desire. I learned my biggest lesson about this from my daughter…my daughter who I raised to be “fearlessly authentic” and who lives that quote so well…all three of my children do. I was expressing to my daughter one day how I wish that my house could look the way the house of one of these ladies I watch on Instagram looks. She quickly reminded me that I have my own unique sense of style and a very nicely decorated house. She also reminded me that most of these stories and posts are staged to look good on social media and they too probably have clutter and messes in their house somewhere…of course they are not going to post that. Wow…sometimes I think my kids help raise me!
How is it my children who are ages 20 and 16 (twins which is why I have three) are better expressing their individuality than their almost 49 year old mama? Well here’s another quote…”I don’t want my kids to follow in my footsteps. I want them to take the path next to me and go further than I could have ever dreamt possible.” I have raised my kids to be better than I ever thought about being and to be who I was always afraid to be…myself! I thank God every day that I have pretty obedient kids and they have done just that. They march to beats of their own drums, they are not easily swayed by peer pressure and they really do not care what everybody else is doing or wearing. It is my most favorite common denominator…and there are not many of these…of my kids. They are my role models in this sense!
So today…let’s all take a lesson from that little chocolate wrapper and go out there and be “fearlessly authentic”! Just think what a fun, unique world it will be to live in…but not of…if we are all who God made us to be!
Words of Heart 