Knowing who you are

Once you figure out who you are I imagine life gets easier. Once you know who you are, what you stand for, what you believe it I would think life would just flow and be simple. Until then however, we stagger along the path trying to figure it all out.

We idolize celebrities, we put them on pedestals. We try to be like them, to look like them, to have their lives and when they fall apart and are all over the news and gossip magazines we realize they are human.....just like us. They make mistakes, they do dumb things, they wear terrible clothes and sometimes, they go out in public with no make-up on. They are as human as we are and we forget to see that. With all the recent celebrity deaths we have had glimpses into these idol's lives and suddenly we find out they are just like us. They love, they suffer, they care, they cry....they are just like us. It's strange how we don't really see that. I imagine people who are thrust into the spotlight must really struggle because they must go through a roller coaster of odd emotions and struggle with trying to figure out who they are all over again.

We judge these people so much differently than we do ourselves. We expect them to be model perfect people all of the time and when they don't live up to those standards we are so disappointed and we become so judgemental of them. Why else would gossip magazines be so popular?

Recent news headlines have been about Jon & Kate and their divorce. Really? How is that news? 60% of marriages fail and just because they have a TV show it's news? How about the hundreds of people that file every single day. Suddenly when their lives fall apart just like anyone else we make it news. They are unhappy, sad, unfulfilled and because of the pedestals we have placed them on they seem to fall harder. Are they really any different than any other couple struggling to find the elusive thing that makes them happy? That makes them want to get up in the morning, that makes them want to contribute to the bigger picture?

They are no different than us but now every move they make, every bad hair day, every date, everything they do the world will see and judge. If it were me under that intense spot light I imagine my paparazzi pictures would be so terrible....I'd be crying like the cowardly lion or looking like the BEFORE picture in magazines. It would be exhausting. I can't imagine having to be so concerned with what anyone else thought about me while I was trying to sort through the personal life changes much less having to worry about justifying myself to anyone else. It truly would be exhausting. I guess it's good I'm not a celebrity!

I thought about this a lot this weekend, how we always feel like we are so alone in our own thoughts and emotions. We feel like we are the ONLY ones going through whatever we are going through and when you talk to someone you realize others may feel the same way and suddenly you don't feel so bad. Isn't that a song? It's a relief to know you are not alone, at least it is for me. I always feel more justified when I realize I am not alone in how I am thinking or feeling....it helps me to move on, to get past things. It gives me hope.

I think we always look for ways to define and re-define who we are.....and to know who we are.