Free To Be Me

Free to Be Me

There comes a time in life when you look in the mirror and ask yourself - Who am I, really? Not the version others expect. Not the one molded by family, teachers, friends, or the world. But the version of you that’s been whispering beneath all the noise, patiently waiting to be heard.

From the moment we’re born, people begin shaping us, sometimes with love, sometimes with fear, and often with their own unfulfilled dreams. We grow up learning what’s “acceptable,” what’s “realistic,” what’s “safe.” And in the process, we forget how to listen to our own hearts.

I remember back in high school, I wanted to take cosmetology. I loved the creativity, the idea of helping people feel beautiful, and the hands-on artistry of it all. But my mother said, “You won’t ever make any money doing that.”
So instead, I took food service.

Let’s just say - I hate to cook. And I definitely don’t make any money with my cooking skills, haha! But what if I had followed my heart back then? Maybe I wouldn’t have made a fortune, but maybe I would’ve found a career filled with joy, purpose, and pride. Maybe I would’ve built a life that felt like mine.

The truth is, her intentions were good. She wanted the best for me based on what she believed was right. But that’s the thing, our parents, friends, teachers, even our partners; they all make suggestions, rules, or judgments based on their own fears and experiences. They can’t live our lives for us.

And yet, so many of us spend years doing just that - living lives that belong to everyone else.

We say yes when our heart screams no.
We shrink ourselves to fit in.
We silence our voice so others don’t feel uncomfortable.
We become versions of ourselves that make them happy, but leave us feeling empty.

Then one day, something shifts. Maybe it’s a moment of burnout, heartbreak, or awakening. Maybe it’s quiet and subtle. But you realize - you’re tired of pretending. You want to be you.

That’s when the real work begins.

Learning who you are isn’t a one-day event. It’s a journey, a process of peeling back layers that never belonged to you in the first place. It means asking the hard questions:

• What do I truly believe in?

• What are my morals and values?

• What do I stand for, even if it’s unpopular?

• What brings me peace? What drains me?

As I’ve begun deciding who I want to be, I’ve had to take accountability for the parts of myself that I didn’t like. I had to stop blaming others and start making changes. I had to set boundaries, real ones. The kind that protects your peace, your growth, and your self-respect.

That’s not easy work. It takes courage to say, “This is who I am.”
It takes strength to say no when everyone expects a yes.
It takes faith to choose the unknown path, the one not everyone understands.

But let me tell you something beautiful - when you finally do, when you decide to live as the person you were meant to be, life begins to bloom in color again. You start to laugh deeper, love harder, and breathe easier. You stop chasing approval and start attracting alignment.

Being “free to be me” isn’t about rebellion. It’s about truth. It’s about living in a way that feels honest to your soul, even when it makes others uncomfortable.

Because when you know who you are,
you become stronger than the storm.

You stop being tossed around by other people’s expectations. You stop living from fear and start living from faith. You realize that peace isn’t about pleasing everyone, it’s about pleasing the one person you’ll spend your entire life with: yourself.

So today, I invite you to ask yourself:

Who am I when no one is watching?
What would I choose if fear weren’t part of the equation?
What do I need to let go of to finally be free?

You don’t have to have it all figured out. You just have to start.
One choice. One boundary. One honest moment at a time.

Because the real you, the brave, imperfect, beautiful you, has always been there. Waiting patiently beneath the noise, ready to shine.

So take a deep breath. Stand tall. And say it with me:

I am free to be me.