2023 forced me to slow down. A year of heartbreak, loss, and healing.  I was determined to make 2024 the year I lived with intention and greater understanding. Feeling confident from the knowledge I gained in 2023 and a strong desire to keep going, I firmly believed I was ready to make the most out of 2024. Especially using the power of slowing down our daily lives. It was only a couple months into the year that I slowed down in all the wrong ways. I became distant – ignoring phone calls from friends and family. I avoided responsibility – quitting my job I loved. I lost the desire to eat – losing 25 pounds within weeks. In just a couple of months, I lost sight of who I was. I did everything to distract myself from living a life I was proud of. 

I traveled. 

To escape 

I lied. 

To avoid worrying others. 

I shopped. 

To feel better 

In 2024, I was challenged. 

I needed to find answers. 

I needed to heal.

In 2024, I answered a question that has kept me up at night 

And drove me to write this book 

For you and me. 

Who are you? A question I have been trying to answer for years. Learning who we are is a never ending process with no end in sight. In a way, it is a beautiful thing. In other ways, it can be detrimental to our mental health and overall well-being. Unless you learn to accept the general “answer” I believe is both healing and powerful. 

For years, I was always looking for one answer to help all of us. Hoping just maybe my answer would help others. Sleepless nights, hours of research later, self-help book after another; it finally hit me. There is no information I could give to help you answer this question that we all eagerly want to know. 

As someone who cares deeply for others and an aching heart to help, I wanted to have an answer that would resonate with everyone. I wanted a process that would click with all of us. Keeping me up at night to end up being defeated over and over, I began to see a decline in my mental health and personal life. I was distracted at work, restless, unhappy, quick to react, and easily disturbed. I wanted to know how to help people. To know themselves. To love themselves. For who they are. I wanted to give others a best-selling recipe that answered the daunting question of Who Are You? 

It was a cold spring afternoon and I didn’t have a job. I was let go. Mainly because I no longer showed up on time and my focus was elsewhere. Troubled to explain this to family and close friends, I kept it a silent thought. I knew what I wanted to do with my time and it was finding a way to help others be the best version of themselves. I wanted to encourage others to learn who they are – not just at surface level and I was determined to find the answer. I parked my car and walked through the doors of a local cafe in Rochester, NY. A small local cafe busy with a variety of people. With the intention to write for a few hours, I had to direct my focus on my conscious observations and take note of what was happening around me. 

As I pulled out my laptop and notebook to look like I was not just staring into space or creepily staring at others, I quickly stopped what I was doing. 

The lady sitting at another table, across from my table, looked at me and gave a sincere smile. I smiled back. 

That quick interaction gave me the answer I have been tiresely looking for. 

Both in the same space. Living. Working. Being. 

She is her. 

And I Am Me. 

It was at that moment it all clicked. I wrote down the 3 word sentence that changed my life.

I Am Me. 

Sending chills through my whole body, I knew I had found the answer I have spent years looking for. 

Who Are You?

I Am Me. 

All that I see 

All that I feel 

All that I know 

Have made me, Me. 

A powerful and unique individual. 

The post I AM ME appeared first on TheWay.

The post Welcome appeared first on TheWay.