Embracing duality

You don’t have to stay stuck in the box the world seems to have chosen for you. You are more than that box.

Not long ago, we were celebrating mothers day and teacher appreciation week. Both teachers and moms are especially vulnerable to living within the boxes those titles create. Being a teacher or a mom becomes the core of who we are, and sometimes we fall victim to losing ourselves within those titles.

So ask yourself, “Who am I?” Beyond a title, beyond my relationship to any other person, at the core of my being, who am I? I’m not sure this journey of discovering who we truly are ever ends. I think it’s likely that we continue to discover new depths of ourselves for the rest of our lives. However, once we begin to see ourselves as a whole person - once we become more than a projection of the stereotypes that exist in our culture - we begin to see the ways in which these boxes have created limits that only exist because we have accepted them as reality.

What if we reject those limitations? What if we choose abundance?

One of the most valuable lessons I have learned on this journey is to embrace a both/and approach to life. That is at the core of choosing abundance. Life is full of duality if we choose to allow it. I am career-focused, and I am also an amazing mother. Society for some reason has made us feel as though those are mutually-exclusive. They are not. I make healthy food choices, and I also eat s’mores with my kids when we have a campfire. You are a teacher, but you are also a person, a whole person! Don’t let a career define your entire existence. Don’t let a role within your family, whether it is mother, daughter, sister, father, son or brother, define your entire existence. You are a whole person with your own unique gifts that you bring into this world.. Embrace all the pieces of you that make you who you are, without apology.

When we allow other people to dictate our limits, we dim our light. And your light, darling, could light up the world if you would let it.

I will go first.

My limiting belief is that I must sacrifice pieces of my motherhood to be successful in my career.

The truth is, creating a successful career fulfills a piece of my being that allows me to show up for my kids as the best version of myself, which is exactly the mom they need.