Preserving and celebrating your authentic self

This life journey that we travel is such an interesting path.  We all start with our own roadmap that is unique to each of us and we have the ability to make changes in that roadmap as we learn and discover who we are and where we want to go.  There are so many opportunities that present themselves to each of us every day and the choices we make and the way we think shape who we are.  I have always thought if everyone was just like me what a terribly boring place the earth would be.  It is the richness in diversity of thought that truly makes each of us different from one another.  Throughout my life journey there are certain aspects of myself that have not changed and that is the core of my being.  That core of my being represents who I really am and is the foundation for my authentic self.  As I have grown older and embraced all the experiences that life has placed before me, I have learned to appreciate the unexpected detours in my roadmap.  These detours have always caught me off guard and have been some of life's most challenging moments.  As I ponder those challenging life moments I realize it is these unexpected detours that have given me opportunities to discover my authentic self.  Without life's challenges how would we really know who we are and what we are made of?

From the time I was in my 20's, which was the 1970's, I have pondered the wisdom that stereotypes are a bad thing.  When I consider stereotypes I do believe that making statements that categorize people can be damaging in the context that this is who they are rather than a component of a whole.  Stereotypes is the brain's method of creating categories in order to organize an otherwise chaotic