This past weekend I had the chance to catch the premiere of Iyanla Vanzant's 'Fix My Life' on OWN Network. Have you all been watching OWN? My girl Oprah has been bringing consistently rich content to feed our viewing souls.
In the premiere, Iyanla worked with 'Basketball Wives' star Evelyn Lozada to help her fix some of her deep rooted anger issues. Evelyn has been no stranger to controversy - from bottle throwing, bitch name-calling, jumping on tables and the recent head butting incident involving her husband NFL superstar Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson. Evelyn has become a name associated with negativity, so she decided to take the step to seek counsel and turn around her image.
What stood out to me about the interview was not Evelyn's "mean girl" image or analysis of her marriage but the focus on the essential question, "who are you?".
No matter how we were raised , the path that we've been on or the image that we choose to project to the world, the most important question that we need to ask ourselves is who am I?
Asked who she would be if all of her material possessions and public image were taken away, Evelyn struggled to find a definition outside of this.
We all, similar to celebrities, have a public image as mother, daughter, sister, wife, girlfriend, friend, insert job title here, and so on. Our lives are broadcast over social media for people to Like or comment on. But when you strip this all away and sit alone with yourself, do you know who you are? And, is your “authentic” self being portrayed to the outside world? Most of us are living separate identities between the person who people see and our truest self.
When we are unaware of who we truly are, it is easy to be led into someone else’s vision and live the life that they want. We then attract people into our lives that continually lead us in a direction away from our authentic path.
Starting this week off with a fresh slate, let’s all learn from Evelyn and start defining ourselves by our own terms. Work on aligning your deepest truth with the womyn that you show to the world.
So, who are YOU? I would love to hear your own personal statements. Please leave comments and fill in the blank – I AM…
Check out a clip from the episode below:
Happy Monday!
