Lovely Layers of YOU

"Never one thing no not one thing at all. I'm a street fighter, I'm a prayer for Peace, I'm a holy roller, I'm a honey bee." -May Erlewine, Mother Lion, Never One Thing

In her song "Never One Thing", the glorious May Erlewine illustrates so beautifully the many facets of BEING that make us whole. (Ok now youtube search the song and listen to the whole thing... sooooo good!)

This is precisely what I want to talk about today. The importance for women (and men for that matter) to live a multi-faceted life of BEING. All our pieces of person, molded together to form our own unique combination of essence.

So what exactly does a multi faceted life look like? Let's break it down.

Over the course of a life span, it can be so easy to slip in and out of solitary rolls. Perhaps at one point we are a daughter, responsible for behaving and living according to the law of our parents. Then we move into the student roll, where we attempt to gather the knowledge of the world. Perhaps we become someones partner, and have to take another's perspective into consideration when making life choices, and sometimes, that roll turns to that of parent, where we hold up the eternal weight/joy of raising another human in this difficult and beautiful world.

Each time we pass through one of these rolls, they can seem all encompassing. When you commit 100% to giving these rolls your all in the months, years or sometimes decades, your entire sense of Being becomes defined by those rolls. But what happens, when that roll comes to a screeching halt and is no longer necessary? Or what happens when you get some turbulence or set back in one roll or another?

We have all heard of empty nest syndrome right?? I think this is the simplest example of why we need to make sure that we live multifaceted lives even if we are deeply embedded in a Roll at one point or another.

Empty nest shows us, easily, that having thrown a solid 18 years or more into motherhood, allowing it to become your sole being and purpose can sometimes be damaging to us on the other end. When our children grow, and go away, what then are we left with? Do we remember the things we love to do on our own? Do we still have friendships to turn to, or for that matter a partner left to interact with and love? So we even still remember "who am I?"

In another example. What if your main Roll for the time being is a top notch Lawyer. You spend all your time and energy, day and night, piled under files, researching and planning your cases. Your work is fabulous and intense, but what happens when you begin to lose cases, or you lose a major one? What happens when you experience this "turbulence" in your main life roll??

You need to have something else to fall back on for awhile. You need to be able to pull out another facet! Something else that you can rely on for a bit until the Lawyer gig gets back on track.

The suggestion in this blog is just to remind you to foster things in your life that you love. Foster relationships, foster hobbies so that when things get bumpy or are absent in your major Roll some day, you still have meaning and purpose for moving forward with your own life. This is also a reminder that having these multiple facets available to fall back on will help you to have a full and healthy stress management tool box to fall back on when you need it!

When you are ripping your hair out because you are overwhelmed at work, or stressed out with caring for an elderly parent, remember, you are not just an employee or a daughter, you are a writer, a reader, a knitter, a hiker, a gardener, a friend, a partner, a sister, a potter, an artist, an athlete, an outdoor enthusiast, an activist.

What facets are you composed of?? Leave a list on our Facebook page!!! Let us know what beautiful Beings we have with us!!!