On Individuality & Authenticity

Each day I see more of Jackson’s personality shining through.  He is soft and sweet, and noisy and fearless, brave yet timid.  The perfect juxtaposition of traits. As time passes, each day quicker than the last, I find myself reflecting, and discovering that each part of him has been present over the past 20 months.  He has always been a bit soft, sweet, noisy, fearless, & meek. He is innocent and lovely, and everything good that is in this world.  His personality will continue to develop and grow, because nature and nurture have a way of doing this.  I have said time and again that I want him to be happy. But I want him to be the best version of himself.  As his innocence begins to fade away, I hope that he will embrace individuality.  Leading is good, but I want him to know that sometimes it’s ok to follow.  I want him to stand up for others, and for what he believes in.  I want him to do so without the fear of the reaction of his peers. 

So many times in my life, I have tried to be like someone else. Dress like someone else. Look like someone else. Each and every time I have been left unfulfilled, becoming my very own fallacy.  We are most content when we are true to ourselves. When we let the best and most basic parts of our personality shine. Sweet. Intelligent. Timid. These traits bear a certain innocence. I want my son to be strong enough to carve out his own path in this world. To find out who he is, and embrace it, because at the most basic level, that’s what this journey of life is all about, isn’t it? What a shame it would be to watch him waste time pretending to be something or someone else. I hope to be strong enough to teach him that he should never be ashamed of who he is, and that his authentic self is perfect.   I hope to lead him to carve out his path by example, by showing him that I am unlike any other person he knows, and that he is also exceptional. I want him to know that being true to himself and what he holds dear to him is the basis for contentment and the very definition of authenticity.  My hope is that with this goal will come greater acceptance and consideration of the feelings and intrinsic anomalies of others. After all, we are simply displaying pieces of the best version of ourselves, and it is that which makes us different that makes us authentic and interesting. It is these individual qualities that we spend the most time celebrating, and for that reason, we will choose to embrace the individuality.