Don’t you know who you are?
As I was getting dressed this morning I heard a song by Tenth Avenue that made me think back to a month ago during my cheerleader mini-camp. Mini-camp is a fun filled weekend when us cheerleaders participate in various fun activities designed to help us bond as a team. The weekend usually consists of fun team building activities, personal safety workshops, dancing, public speaking, and more. I laughed so much I gave myself a stomach cramp. One particular activity that was challenging to me this year and hadn’t been in previous years was the public speaking exercise. It wasn’t so much the public speaking portion, but the questions our speaking coach posed to me. We have this dynamic speaking coach who flies in just for this portion of our mini-camp, his name is Ron. Ron does a great job of digging deep to help us become more aware of ourselves and each other. The only rule that he had this year was not to cry. Cry? Pah – leeze, that is easy for me. It was my turn to speak, I gave my speech and I was done, my teammates gave me good feedback and I’m ready to go sit back down. Not so fast. He made a comment and told me that he wanted me to come out of my shell and not just be a pretty face, but let people know who I am and what I brought to the team. “So Erica, what do you think you bring do this team?” was his question. His question resonated something inside of me because from that point on, I couldn’t think about anything else. Who am I? What do I bring to the team? I mean, I know who I am, but why can’t I express this? As I stood in front of all of my team mates, tears came to my eyes, and it was a wrap. I felt helpless, embarrassed and frustrated because I honestly couldn’t answer his question. I saw one of my team members raise her hand in an attempt to help me, but he insisted on making me do this myself.
two cute nerds
OK - now she really is a nerd, but a really cute one
love all around
my little sister from Japan
How many times are you stuck in a moment where you don’t understand your worth? Are there times when you ask yourself, “what am I good at” or say “I’m not good enough”. Have you ever made a mistake and continuously let that mistake define you as a person? At the end of the public speaking portion so many of my teammates came up to me and gave me big hugs and told me that they loved me and I mean so much to them. I still couldn’t think of who I was and what I brought to the team. As I thought about this, I realized that Ron challenged me. He challenged me to be more of a leader, not to be afraid of telling people my accomplishments, and to let my true light shine. I came to the conclusion that modesty can be somewhat of a flaw to some extent. I hate when people brag so I almost never tell good things about myself. I even hate it when my mom tells my family the things that I have done. This past mini-camp has shown me that you have to be confident in your accomplishments and the trials that you have overcome, not just for yourself but others. An example, when I was reading the book Cupcake Brown I was really encouraged to go back to school to get my PhD. Learning about all of her shortcomings and how she thrived through them all made me push myself to want more. After about 3 weeks, I can finally answer Ron’s questions. Who am I? I am a child of God and I bring His love, kindness, and understanding to my team. Don’t you know who you are?
love my captain for so many reasons one reason is she knows who she is and she makes no apologies for it
If you are having difficulty finding your worth and who you are these steps might help.
1. Know that you are a child of God. Period.
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God -John 1:12
2. Whatever you have done in the past, let it stay in your past, you have been set free from it. Your past does not define who you are today.
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace -Ephesians 1:7
3. Find one good thing about yourself and embrace it. Be confident in who you are.
4. Think about one test or trial that you have overcome and share it with someone. You can encourage others too.
love,
the christianista
