A You-Shaped Place

Good news guys, the inspiration wave that I was riding last night has not subsided. Rather it has grown and even in the short span of 24 hours, I have made strides in making my dreams more of a reality and in allowing myself to dive into the Brittany-iest version of Brittany around.

Just like a puzzle piece fits into the bigger project, or a key fits into a lock, there is a you-shaped place in this world into which you will fit perfectly.

As I have discussed in some recent posts, from the time I was in high school and through the years that followed college, I spent all of my time consumed by conditionals. The things that I “should” be doing preoccupied me and the once clever and crafty version of me stepped aside to let the numbers-driven, mainstream-oriented version of myself come to the forefront.

As I stumbled through courses and life paths that weren’t quite right for me, I felt more and more like a failure with every passing day. I had a skewed perception of reality– based on the amount of time that I had already been working, I felt far older than I truly was. Based on my loneliness, I was so much more helpless and vulnerable than I could ever really be.

The things that I once loved– my art courses, my hobbies of music, writing, reading and crafting became more troublesome than they had ever been because I was spreading myself so painfully thin.

…and then it hit me. Like forcing a polarized plug backwards into an outlet, I was trying desperately to squeeze myself into places that weren’t right for me.

If you’re a twenty-something carving your place in the world, I can nearly guarantee that you have experienced, if you’re not currently experiencing this phenomenon. In the way that you would try on outfits at The Gap, you are trying on different personas and different versions of you in an attempt to determine which one suits you best. We don’t technically know each other yet, but the fact that you are reading this blog leads me to believe that you feel we have something in common, and because of that, I feel confident in sharing my experiences with you. Hopefully in a way that will inspire and encourage you.  I take the time tonight to beg of you, never give up on finding the you-shaped place.

Reasonably talented and intelligent people can fit into many different places, and when you’re young enough, anything seems good enough.

And then, you wake up one morning and realize that despite your years (or lack thereof), you still know the twang of feeling unfulfilled. You understand the concept of long-term goals and you know when you’re missing something; even if it’s a something that you have yet to even experience.

Albert Einstein once said (or so we speculate…), “Everybody is a genius, but if you judge a fish based by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

So the moral of that story is simple: only you have complete control over YOU. Don’t set your fin and scale-blessed self up for failure by trying to climb trees. The good news is that the you-shaped place is out there, it just takes some digging to find it; some “trying on.”

The best part about finding your place is that it is uniquely you. Sometimes, we don’t know what it looks like ourselves (take me, for example, who would be equally as excited to style hair and makeup for the stars as I would be designing weddings). Find your bravery and take a leap of faith! I’ll go with you!

xoxo

Bee