Guest Post: Set The World On Fire

Today's guest post is brought to you by Just Me, who blogs over at Getting Out of My Boat. Please stop by and check out her blog if you haven't already! Her posts will encourage and inspire you to do great things for your faith. 


I will be back soon! In the meantime, please read and take this post to heart!
(PS- If you want to write a guest post in the future, just let me know!) 
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Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire. - St Catherine of Siena

Do you know who you are? Do you know who you were made to be? 

For most of my teens, I had pretty low self-esteem. I knew I had a couple of good qualities but I also believed I was no fun to be around, and I thought that if I met me, I wouldn't want to spend any time getting to know me. I had very little confidence in myself, and didn't really believe anyone could truly like me for me. I spent a long time believing that if I could be more ___, less ___, could do ____ better, I'd get it all worked out and my life would miraculously change. I'd be cool. Confidence would come naturally. Everyone would want to be my friend.

In the last couple of years, things have really changed for me. But not because I changed. Things have changed for me because I started to figure out who I was, and more importantly, toembrace that. If you read my blog, you'll know that I've written a lot about identity this year. I've realised, among other things, that maybe being a bit of an introvert is simply part of who I am. I'm a good supporter; an organiser; a behind-the-scenes kind of girl. I'm not a leader; I'm probably never going to spend a whole lot of time in the spotlight. Those things used to bother me, because I thought that's what I should be aiming for, but now, I'm learning to be really happy as I am.

Don't you think music sounds better with harmonies? I do. I think it's beautiful. Sometimes there'll be an obvious melody, with some other parts in the background, and other times there'll be a whole load of different parts that blend together perfectly, with no one more dominant than any other. One tune on its own - sure, sometimes that can sound great, but when a lot of complementary parts come together, there's just something amazing about that. And I think life's the same. Sometimes we do okay being independent from everyone else's lives, but I think that when we recognise our specific role in a bigger picture, it's just incredible. We've all got different parts to play in life. The world needs some leaders, some back-stage workers; some practical people, some spontaneous; some vehement optimists, some realists. We were created to be unique and life works best when we all embrace the roles we were designed to fill. 

My best friends today are almost entirely the same people they were five or six years ago. So I can't have been that awful, right? They must have genuinely liked me all along, the only difference is, now I like me too (and hopefully they can see that, and like me more because of it)! Do you know how freeing that is?! I'm sure I've still got a lot of learning and growing to do. I may never be the kind of person who walks into a room commanding all the attention. I may never be comfortable doing public speaking. But I can tell you right now, with confidence, that I am now comfortable living. 

How do you react in front of a camera? I wonder if that might be a good way to gauge someone's self-esteem levels. There are hardly any photos of me from my early teens. Gradually I started to be more okay with being in photos, but only if someone else was in the picture too, and also only with a smile. I have a couple of friends who can't help but pull funny faces for the camera. I used to think that was kind of stupid and I thought everyone should just smile in pictures. But all those photos of me.. they all look the same! Of course there are genuine smiles in some photos, and I like those, but nowadays I'm not so inflexible. Photos look more fun if the person in them looks like they're actually having fun. Two years ago, you would never have got me to do a silly pose or pull a face for a camera. Today, it's still not my instinct, but I'm quite happy to do it. I won't even un-tag it on Facebook.

The quote from Catherine of Siena really strikes a chord with me. I want to strive for that. I want everyone to strive for that! We've all got growing and learning to do but I think we need to do it in pursuit of who we were made to be, not in pursuit of being like our friend with the nice hair, the great leader at church, the perfect parent down the road, or the sibling with the great grades. Since I started learning to love and embrace who I am, I'm so much happier. My self-esteem is higher than it's ever been. I'm still a quiet person, but that's okay! 

Do you know how valuable YOU are? Do you know that YOU are a gift to those around you? I challenge YOU to be the best version of YOU that you can be. Don't try to be someone else. That's their job. Find and embrace your own strengths and let's see what kind of amazing world we can create when we all do that. 

Ready to set the world on fire?