Becoming

 

Just hold that thought right there. I know what came to your mind the moment you read that title. I can bet you already have an image of Mitchelle Obama in her plum- colored  turtleneck, wide legged trousers and the matching over-coat. I also know that you have chosen to remember the snatched waist with the gold circle buckle and the curls on her hair over the seemingly handsome man who is holding her hand. That alone says everything you need to know about human beings.  

We are getting to Mitchelle in a minute but what good would I be if I did not give you unrelated deep captions for your Instagram posts? If you thought mantras of personal power and affirmations came with the introduction of Facebook and evolved to Whatsapp then made their way home to Instagram, you could never be further from the truth. According to Pausanias, a Greek traveler and geographer, the words 'Know thyself ' (gnothi seauton) were inscribed in the forecourt at the temple of Apollo at Delphi. These words were definitely deeper than we might ever know, but that's it. Know thyself. That's the caption.

What do you want to become when you grow up? This is a question we all answered as kids and the answers for most of us changed as frequently as the question was asked. Try answering that question even now as an adult ( in denial) and you will speak with less conviction than the child in you who was ready to be a superhero.. I'll tell you why.  Mitchelle thinks that this is one of the most useless questions an adult can ask a child. As if growing up is finite. As if at some point you become something and that is the end. I hear kids say they want to become a driver, a father and an engineer. Posing the question however gives the idea that they can only choose one so they choose to be a father. If identity was this linear, I honestly would like to relocate to Siberia as a goat and live the soft life, with no bills or taxes to worry about.

Identity is however very complex. In fact everybody is far more complex than they present themselves to be and you too are entitled to such complexity. Living in the age of social media further complicates this for us and it can be tragic if you are not on this journey of knowing thyself. Now more than ever we have an existential liability to know ourselves. Sound- bytes and 5 word captions should never limit how you experience life for yourself. It's easy to get trapped in this worldwide web and judge ourselves harshly because of curated identities we see out there. What social media denies us is context. Know this and know peace. A great lesson from Mitchelle Obama's becoming is to always remember that there is context to everything even when we don't know it. Everyone on earth is carrying around some unseen history and that alone deserves some tolerance. 

All I am doing in these many words is to caution you from orienting your life around philosophies that people present. In case you were beginning to get wrapped up in all the web, I will leave you with the wise words of celebrated 21st Century Female philosopher, Beyonce Knowles Carter, " Find your way back.”