Being you...

When I first met my now great friend and inspiration, Trish, she blessed me.  She told me I was beautiful and unique and that there was no other Sarah Kennard in the universe.  And that if I wasn't being me, then the universe was missing out.  Now, some of that may sound slightly elementary and some of it may feel a bit schmaltzy  but most critically, to me it just felt wholly uncomfortable and I wanted to run a mile! Be myself?! I had no idea who I even was!  I had perfected the art of being who I thought I wanted to be, with my apparent career success, hard faced attitude, material possessions...and shoes, endless shoes!  

I was like a professional shopper, I'm surprised I found time to have a full time job, each weekend was almost ritualistically dedicated to shopping, or researching what I was going to shop for.  And then every few weeks, there would be a mass clear out of my wardrobe as I got rid of the things I didn't like any longer, some of them still with tags, to my ever grateful friends (who even now sometimes joke they are dressed in 'K by SK').  I had the retail equivalent of Bulimia: binging and  purging, only on possessions as opposed to food.  It was mentally and physically exhausting as with each new purchase, I would think it was going to magically transform me into being happy.  That sounds ridiculous now and of course I never thought of it in those literal terms at the time.

I'm not going to pretend for one second that I am now skipping through the tulips indulging only in spiritual pastimes, having relinquished all my material possessions!  That simply is not the truth; I still like to look good and I still like to party but there is a different energy around it now, and I enjoy those things.  I feel that I also like other simpler things in life just as much and that gives me some balance and more importantly, peace in my head.  I cherish the times I spend with my family and friends, adore walking my dog and reading and cooking.

I'd like to pass on that blessing  to readers of this post: you are beautiful and unique, and if you aren't being you, then the universe is missing out on you.  So, go on: Be YOU!