Now I Become Myself
Now I become myself,
It’s taken time, many years and places,
I’ve been dissolved and shaken,
Worn other people’s faces,
Now I become myself.
May Sarton
Some questions for reflection:
-
- Why is now the time to become yourself?
- Why is it hard to accept that it takes time to become yourself?
- How is the place you’re in right now, shaping you becoming yourself?
- How is this place and time dissolving and shaking you?
- What other face, that is not your own, is it time for you to take off?
JKG, April 2019
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There’s lots here to reflect upon but I will limit myself to one of the questions…why is it hard to accept it takes time to become yourself? Because those old habits die hard and I’m still in process recognizing how many different faces I’ve learned to put on, concealing who I really am! It just takes time to dig into the heart, to be honest about what my fears and motives are, to recognize when and how I seek to protect myself by putting forth what others expect of me, to really embrace and daily live out the truth that who I am and who I am becoming is enough and it is a painfully beautiful process of unfolding.
Your comment is a lovely and thoughtful response, worthy of this wonderful poem.
I love this poem – thanks for sharing it! It seems to deepen in me with every reading. The imagery of growing like a plant is riveting, that my life gradually grows into a song with a distinctive message and melody, with the intention of being shared and fully used up – like the “fertile” fruit of the tree – but never exhausted because it is rooted by love and has fallen in notes on a page, which can always be resung. To measure our lives not in terms of years but as an expression of continually ripening to become ourselves, I find is an invaluable image to hang on to as we age.