The Courage to Be Yourself

I find it easier to be myself at this age when you have gone through life discovering people accept you the way you are even if you are different or weird.  

I did not have this confidence or the courage to do so when I was young really young especially during my teenage years.  I remember I cared so much to be with the "in" group in school and tried my hardest to fit even trying to learn the guitar since all of them knew how.  It was painful when I found I still did not fit.  I asked myself, "What is wrong with me?"  

I credit my family, friends especially the members of the prayer groups I belong to as well as the students I taught and members of the department I worked for in my last job at Indiana University of Pennsylvania for helping me develop the courage to be myself.  I did mention how grateful I was for their acceptance of my uniqueness in my farewell speech at the retirement party they tendered for me at IUP.  When people asked me what I liked the most in this teaching position I held for 12 and half years in a place that was 1 hour and 5 minutes drive from home, I always said "They let me do what I want".  I did not mean whatever I wanted without limits.  I just wanted to emphasize they gave me a lot of freedom on how I taught and also in the service projects I gave the department.  I had job satisfaction in other words since they respected my wish to express my ideas in  sometime over the top ways which they did not understand fully at that time but came to appreciate later on.  

This past Wednesday I taught my two students Rylie and Mila about how God loves them all the time.  Not only that, He loves them for who they are.  This is a pretty significant lesson to learn since these two could not be any more different from each other. One is an extrovert while the other is an introvert.  In fact, when I asked them if they ever wished somtimes to be like the other, one honestly said she did.  I of course tried to teach them to not compare but appreciate what the others have and be grateful for what gifts she has herself.

We did several activities that day for the idea of loving themselves for who they are to sink in.  For some reason, I decided to ask them to make a sculpture of each other using homemade play dough.  

When they had a hard time starting I did make some kind of drawing on the blackboard as a guide and then I gave them a lot of freedom afterwards.  They struggled but shown below are their endearing works of art.  They are totally different renditions of the same task.  

I hope they also learned after this activity that it is OK to be different and it is not necessary to conform or be the same as the other person or persons.  I hope this is a start for them to have the courage and confidence to accept and express themselves in the manner of what they think and not what others do.  It might take a long time like it did for me but at least they have started.  

Rylie's creation of Mila.  I like her rendition of Mila's headband.  I was not sure where she was going with that big glob of a head but it worked.

Mila's creation of Rylie.  I suggested she connected the different parts but I am glad she did not.  It is her work after all not mine.  I like the way she portrayed the eyes which I believe are Rylie's glasses.