How do you define you?

Are you athletic because you play a sport?

Are you talented because you can sing?

Do you label yourself based off of what you see?

 

I don’t…in fact, I can’t.

I don’t label or define myself in the same terms that the world uses to define me.

I don’t label myself as “smart” because I get straight A’s.

I don’t label myself as “beautiful” because my face is aesthetically appealing.

I don’t label myself as “strong” because I keep a tough face on.

 

I AM smart because I’ve stressed out over school work, had sleepless nights, and put in countless hours to maintain grades that meet my standards.

I AM beautiful because I’ve been forced to find the beauty in myself and accept everything I am or could be.

 I AM strong because I’ve had my back against the wall and no matter how hard life pushed; I knew I couldn’t back down.

 

Life tries to define people by labels that represent the surface.

But, I am not what appears on the surface; I’m what it took to build that surface.

I am not defined by labels, I am defined by lessons.

 

I am the definition of a lesson.

I am the past lessons that I’ve already learned from.

I am the present lessons that I am currently learning from.

I am the future lessons that I will learn from.

 

I am established yet I am still finding myself.

I don’t define myself with one label or definition because I am already the opposite of what I imagined myself being.

I am me but it is not the me I knew I was going to be in the past.

I've learned to stop expecting myself to be perfect and start expecting myself to make mistakes and prepare to learn from them.

I've become acceptance.

The acceptance of my mistake and my lessons, and at this point in life I wouldn't want to be anything else.