Saturday, June 29, 2013

I Am What I Am

Okay, I saw a summer stock production of La Cage Aux Folles today, what can I say? And anyhow, don't many of our life truths come to us in musicals? "The sun'll come out tomorrow," "Oh, it's time to start living, time to take a little from this world we're given," "Can't regret what I did for love," "I thought that you'd want what I want." The list goes on. And I am grateful to have seen enough shows in enough versions to meet a steady stream of sing-worthy emotions. As far as I'm concerned, if a musical leaves me with a few memorable, singable, relevant songs, it's done a pretty good job as a musical.

So today, I got to walk away remembering a passionate performance of "I Am What I Am," which made me think a lot about how much time (or how little) we spend being who we really are. And how rare it is even to have those moments when we know who we are.

I spent most of a year trying to reinvent myself (or at least find the self I wanted to be). Yet, even now, though I do feel I have made some discoveries, I can't really say I know who I am every day. You could argue that I am a lot of different people, changing to fit the circumstances. Perhaps even the character who sings the song is that too. But, despite the roles we play each day, it's not a bad idea to take that time to reassess, and not just when we're between jobs, as I found myself doing, but even when we're working. There are always ways we can pursue (and hold on to) the people we really are. As long as we know who it is we really are.

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