Born This Way

I have always been interested in the questions “who am I?” and “who are you?”.

When we are born, I think we come into the world with two things: our basic physical body and our basic personality tendencies. I remember studying the concept of “nature versus nurture” way back in school. This was (and still is) the idea that any characteristic is either genetic (inborn nature) or conditioned by the environment (nurture).

I came into this world long and (relatively) lean. I am slender by nature. My mom thought I was too skinny, so she fed me every chance she got. I always remained slender. When I lost all the pregnancy weight after my second child was born, she finally gave up. My nature overcame my mom’s nurture.

I was always the tallest kid in my class at school, so I would slouch to hide it. I was told at one point in grammar school that my spine was permanently bent and that I would never have good posture. She thought slouching was my nature, and that it wouldn’t change. Now, as an adult, I have a nice straight posture because of dance lessons and because I finally got rid of the need to hide my height. As a kid, I believed that I would never stand up straight because someone saw it as my natural state. As an adult, I was nurtured into having good posture.

I always loved to learn, and was told I was good at science. In my senior year of high school, we took a “career” test that was supposed to identify what we would be good at. The test told me I was more of a people person, and suggested that I become a florist. (really) My guidance counselor looked at my grades and sent me to college. I made my way to a career in Pharmacy, which turned into working with computers. It was OK for a long time, but it got harder and harder to keep up with changes. I finally realized “things” are not my strength. I am a born “people person”. It took a long time for me to recognize my true nature. I didn’t know how much stress I was under in my job until I left it.

So back to the questions “who am I?” and “who are you?”. I am a mix of the characteristics I was born with (nature) and the characteristics that others have led me to display (nurture). I change depending on the people and environment that surrounds me. I can change ANYTHING about myself (even a crooked spine) if I’m aware of it and want to change it.

What do you think? Have you changed something about yourself that people have always told you would never change? Do you realize that you’ve been nurtured away from doing something that is natural to you? Leave a comment!

Until next time, remember… We are all magnificent.