When I was a little girl, I dreamed of being a Kimberly. In my mind, Kimberly was everything I aspired to be (Ah! The fantasies of youth!). But for years it seemed I was destined to be a Kim.Now there's nothing wrong with Kim. I know a lot of wonderful Kims. But I never felt like a Kim. Kim was someone else. I felt like an imposter-Kim. Yet everyone I knew called me Kim.I remember in college I said to one of my professors, "I really wish people would call me Kimberly." And he said, in his typical snarky way, "Kimberly?! Good God! You're not a Kimberly!" And so, I tucked my Kimberly-dream away. Who was I to be a Kimberly?So often we turn our identity over to other people. How they define us becomes more important than how we define ourselves . Their opinions of us - of who we are and who we should be - drown out our internal voices. We lose the ability to own ourselves.But what's the price we pay? If every day we feel as if we must pretend to be someone we're not, how does that impact our ability to show up powerfully in this world?Related: To Connect and Make a Difference, You Have to Get Real … With Yourself I think one of the most important things we can do is honor the person we truly know ourselves to be. For how can we fully show up and bring our gifts and make an impact if we are diminishing our power by disowning our truth? We can't.
