Brave enough to be YOU!

 

 

I have lived most of my life feeling misunderstood, different and a little ‘out there’. You are more likely to see me creating my own path to travel on rather than following the crowd. I have been this way most of my life. In many situations, it has made my life more difficult, but honestly I believe it has allowed me to learn valuable lessons.

 

While spending some one on one time with my eight year old daughter, she voiced her concern about being different from her friends. She didn’t want to do anything that might make her stand out from the crowd. I realize this is a natural feeling for most eight year olds, in fact, its normal for most women to just want to ‘fit in’.

 

I asked my daughter, “what do you think would happen if you wore something different from what your friends liked?”

“I don’t know.” she replied.

“Do you think they would stop playing with you? I asked.

“ Well, maybe or they would make fun of me.” She said.

“And if they did so, do you think they are good friends?” I asked her.

“No.” She said.

 

It made me think about this question as an adult. Why are we so hesitant to stand out, to not say, feel, wear or do what the majority is doing? What if we were brave enough to actually be ourselves? Gasp! To wear what we wanted to or not wear what we didn’t want. What if we broke those chains of wanting to be just like our neighbor, sister, friend or stranger? Can you imagine the possibilities and the diversity we would create? Such freedom, such happiness to do what YOU want to do and become what YOU want.

 

I am grateful for the times in my life where I have embraced the ‘misunderstood’ parts of my personality even though it made me stand out from the crowd. In doing so, I have been brave enough to reach goals that people around me thought were impossible. I have created friendships that are genuine and unconditional, because they aren’t based on what the other persons thinks I am. They know who I am.

 

I pray I have taught my daughter that it doesn’t matter what you are wearing or how you appear to others. What matters is being brave enough to be you and the people who matter will look up to you.

 

So to you I ask…

 

Are you brave enough to not fit in?

Are you brave enough to stand out from the crowd?

 

Are you brave enough to be yourself, no matter what?

 

Gina Crotts

 

Gina Crotts is the Director of Parentfinder.com, an internet based system that connects birth parents with waiting adoptive families. She is a social media guru, a public speaker on the topic of adoption, with additional strengths in writing and design. She enjoys guiding adoptive couples to write, build, and market their dynamic profiles. She is a birth mother who has been working in the adoption industry for over 12 years.

Gina is also the Founder and President of Birth Mother Baskets, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that delivers gift baskets to birth mothers who have recently placed their babies for adoption. Gina and Birth Mother Baskets have been featured on Channel KSL5 News, Channel ABC4 “Good Things Utah”, Utah Valley Magazine as an “Angel Among Us”, Desert News, Daily Herald, Adoption.com, and America Adopts. Gina also served as a Teen Pregnancy Ambassador with the “Power In You” organization formed by former Utah first lady Mary Kaye Huntsman.

Currently, Gina lives in Utah with her husband and three children JD 11, Evie 8 and Jett 2 years old. When she isn’t working you are most likely to find her at the baseball park, a dance competition, creating art or a yoga class. 

 

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