I recall a moment in elementary school when I pushed a boy, not realizing I pushed him right where he had stitches. I also recall getting into trouble at school for it.

The next thing I remember is being sent to another school on the other side of town.

I thought it was a school for bad kids.

Recently, my mom told me it was actually a school for gifted children and that my teachers had advocated for me to go there.

I felt something shift when she told me that, like something dropped off of me.

I remember leaning into the bad behavior at that school.

I can’t remember if it was the substitute or our regular teacher, Mrs. Washington, that I said this to, but when they told me to cut it out, I told them, “Give me some scissors and I will.”

I got into arguments and fights there.

I started to think about how differently I had understood that moment.

I’m sure I was told, but I was a kid, and the timing of it being right after I got in trouble for pushing that boy made it seem like I was being punished.

It made me wonder whether I would have done things differently if I’d known I was “gifted” and that’s why I was sent there.

Would I be a different person or at a different place in life had I operated from a “gifted” perspective instead of a “bad person” perspective?

I didn’t stay in that wondering too long, because there’s no going back.

I am who I am, and that’s fine with me…on most days. LOL

But it did make me think about how we carry around the wrong stories about ourselves and let them shape our lives.

How often do we see ourselves from the perspective of being bad or not enough?

How often do we let someone else’s opinion of us affect our behavior?

How long will it be before we’re no longer beholden to what others think about us?

We can’t control what they think. We can only show up and be who we are.

Who are you?

Do you really know?

Most of the time, the work is not convincing others of who we are. It’s in discovering who we are and being confident enough to be that person.