Be True to Yourself

“We’re not very normal, are we, Martin?” I said as we walked out of this little general aviation airport when Martin had finished up some meetings.  We were half the age of all the men standing inside.  They were chatting about airplanes and the weather (Cause that’s what pilots do when you put them in a room together.  They talk and talk.  Airplane this.  Weather that.).

I’m not used to being around so much conversation that I UNDERSTAND.  It’s all in my own language.

It also makes me realize how different we are to EVERYONE we confront.  Can you relate to this feeling sometimes?  You are being you, but sometimes you feel so out of place.  Other people have more friends, bigger lives, better children, richer everything, NORMAL everything…

You know what conclusion I’ve realized?

So what.

I think our kitchen in Berlin was my first introduction to absolutely ignoring what society says.  Who says we have to have 4+ burners on our stove?  I really started focusing on what I wanted… and being okay with the fact that it wasn’t standard.

There isn’t anything wrong with wanting what you want.

Being true to yourself means following what you want to create in life – not what your family and community wants you to do.  And that’s hard.  But I suspect that because you join me here on Making This Home, you often confront questions of what society says you should want and what you really want.

What is stability and security?  What is normal?  I think those questions can come second to something much more powerful:

Really, what is most important to you?

Since returning to the United States, my heart has been overwhelmed with amazing discoveries about what matters in my life.  Martin and I will be heading out to visit a neighbor, and Martin will profess these ideas about home and passion that are exactly what I’ve been thinking.  I can’t quite put them into words for you.  We’re still in this state of discovery.  How do we learn to listen to our hearts?  To accept that we can’t say, “I live in ___.”  Or “I am a ___.”  The answers are much longer for us.

You might love watching this super-cute, quick clip.  It makes me want to jump up and dance:

Just keep being you.  Just keep doing what you love and believe.  No matter where we are, that seems to be the absolute key to a happy life.  And keep reminding yourself of one thing:  so what if it’s different.  It’s the you that YOU WANT TO BE.