The Many Sides of ME

My community is going to be having a Sweetheart's Dance for adults in a few weeks. I got pretty excited about the idea, as many of our "couples friends" will be there and I just love to dance. But Jonathan's reaction was,

"I don't have to go to that do I?"

My VERY mature knee jerk response was a sharply sarcastic,

"Oh no of course not! I'll be fine! I'll just go by myself and dance with somebody ELSE'S husband!" Sorry I snapped, Dear Spouse.

Jonathan has been all too clear about his stance on dancing for as long as I've known him. He would rather stick his face in the exhaust pipe of a steam train. I have always known: If I want a fun night of dancing, I go with Girlfriends. And for a fun night of waltzing, I go with Gayfriends. I really am OK with that.

The fact is, nobody should expect one person to be everything they need. We have lots of people in our lives to nurture the different sides of ourselves. Without that variety, we neglect many aspects of our potential and can become very one dimensional. I despise the idea of becoming just one type of person. I don't want to label myself as "The Rebel" or "The Housewife" or "The Fashionista." I have many sides. And I want to nurture them all!



The FUN ME. I absolutely adore my weekends of Karaoke Dance Parties and Movie Marathons. They are like a time capsule back to the days where my biggest concerns shifted between wondering what my future held and planning my next social event. A quick return to the simplicity of that young, selfish phase is all I need to get my head back in the game of meeting the serious demands that I face every day as a wife, mother and business owner. I leave all those duties at home when I go out to play. I throw my head back and howl at the moon! I dance with every muscle in my body and whip my hair around to the rhythm of my own heart. I spread my arms out wide and drink in every witty quip, every peal of laughter. I love having friends that need those things too, because with them it doesn't feel like a need. It just feels like a fantastically fun night! Then I get to go home; my lungs stretched to full capacity with cool, fresh air.


The Intellectual ME. Many precious hours of my life have been spent deep in conversation. I love staying up till 4 am, talking about the every day things in life and digging a dozen layers beneath those things to find a higher significance to it all. We analyse our subconscious reactions to the world around us. We search for solutions to specific problems and commit to push ourselves to the next level. I love seeking out minds I can respect, and then sharing with those trusted few the things that scare me, the places I dream about, and my personal moments of life altering clarity. I relish the company of those that are intelligent enough and BRAVE enough to explore the deepest places of their hearts and minds. Those are the friendships that I cherish most.


The Hero ME: I cannot even begin to explain how much I get out of helping someone through a difficult time. It's like a supercharge that cuts past all my usual energy filters and refreshes me right at the core. It doesn't matter how big or small the problem may seem, if it matters to you and I could help, then I'm recharged! My children are wonderful outlets for the Hero Me. If Squeaks is having trouble putting on his shoe and I come over to help him, he looks at me with those big brown eyes and says, "Thank you Mommy." RECHARGED! If a client cheated on me got a bad haircut and I'm able to fix it for them before a picture or a wedding. RECHARGED! If a friend had an upsetting encounter and needs to yell and cry on me to feel better about things. RRREEECHARGED!


The Artist ME: I am a person who is absolutely bursting with creative energy. Everywhere I look I see an opportunity to create something beautiful. Every person is a future super model. Every room is the next cover of Domino Magazine. Every sad moment is a beautiful song. Every life I touch is a great novel waiting to be written. My mind is so over saturated with clothing designs, poetry, artwork and music that it simply cannot be contained. It spills out and fills my limbs, my torso, my organs. It seeps so deeply into my body that it crosses into the intangible world of my soul and seems to define my very existence. Without the people in my life that encourage that form of expression, I wouldn't know myself. I wouldn't even be a shell of the person I am today.



The Realist ME: This side of me is a gift from my Mother, and what a labor of love it was! Three decades of the dream-stealing conversations that she forced on me as I tried to run my impulsive, over-dramatic, thoughtless ass right into traffic, have trained me to pause and think; to see the far reaching consequences of seemingly small choices. I make a daily effort to transcend my tendency to live in the moment, and I force myself to analyse where my actions are ultimately going to take me. I decide if I want to go there, and change my course if necessary. Then I go on sauntering through the rest of the day in my highly distractible, permagrinning style, loving the smell in the air as I go. Without Realist Me, I would have been life's roadkill long ago.


The Spiritual ME. Spiritual Me is the glue that holds all of us together. This side puts a weight on the other end of my pendulum personality. Without the deep calm that I achieve through daily efforts to heighten my spiritual awareness, Fun Me would become a very shallow, superficial person who had a lot of trouble creating and sustaining close relationships. Intellectual Me would become a pious, critical and unapproachable cynic.
Hero Me would eventually look at my life, wonder why I never did anything for myself, and would become The Martyr; resenting the hell out of everyone I had spent my life serving.
Artist Me would see that I spent out my years living paycheck to paycheck with no schedule, no structure and no notable progress.
Realist Me would be a pessimistic buzzkill with a disdain for all day dreams and high aspirations.
And Sex Kitten Me? Well she'd just be a whore.
Spirituality has rescued me from many dark and ugly monsters that hide in the closets of my Many Sides. Most of the people I surround myself with have a deep respect for things of a spiritual nature. They help me stay focused when I find myself tempted to dumb down my existence.

Those are just the big corners of my personality. I didn't even mention Sensitive Me, or Goofball Me, or Mischievous Me, or Sex Kitten Me or any number of other essential elements of my accumulative craziness. Each trait is enormously important and must be given the attention it needs to flourish. I encourage you to look at your life. Find the things that feel out of balance, and fill your world with people who can help you bring out the greatest sides of YOU.

Tell me: What ARE your Many Sides?