Hallowe'en is just ending here in Australia. For many children they will go to bed on a sugar high. For some people they see the fun of the day- they love to dress up and pretend to be someone else. For some they see the day as evil what with talk with devils, witches, monsters, and goblins. For some they just see Hallowe'en as a big merchandising gimmick by the candy manufacturers.
I want to reflect on the pretending to be someone else aspect of Hallowe'en here. Tonight I was a vampire. I also saw princesses, Star Wars characters, Superman, Batman, Ninja warriors, cowboys. It is fun for one night to act like someone else. One night a year, you get to be someone else. The rest of the year I can be me, but on Hallowe'en I can be somebody else.
There are some people who try to be someone who they are not in order to impress others. They inflate their skills. They lie about their experience. They shamelessly tell lies about their wealth, their possessions, their own importance just in order to impress others or built up their own sense of self worth.
Some people needlessly diminish their own importance. They belittle their own intelligence. They feel their own contributions don't matter. They hope that someone else will do the work and they can just sit back.
I think both of these type of people have it all wrong. For those braggarts out there, yes it is great to be confident and a have a powerful sense of your self work. But if you can't do what you say you can do, others feel betrayed. Others lose trust in you. Others feel as if their time has been wasted. For those who needlessly downplay their own self worth, you make it hard to work with. One feels as if they have to pull teeth in order to get you to share. One feels as if they must spend so much time encouraging you, that they feel their own work suffers.
I learned long ago that being myself is of prime importance. Being myself means that I need to be self aware of the contributions that I can make. It also means that I need to be familiar with all of my foibles and faults. I am not perfect and I must continue to push to improve myself. But I also am aware that being human means that I don't need to excel in everything and sometimes others need to shine. I need to be hard on myself at times, but not overly hard. I need to be kind with myself when I fail, but never be complacent. And if I pretend to be someone I am not to impress someone else or built up my own sense of self worth.
Being yourself is something that should be so easy. But I really think it is something that takes a life time to master. To be oneself, you must know yourself. Blessings as you journey to be the you the world has called you to be.
