I AM

I wrote a poem in my freshman English course titled “I am” – I wrote it because I felt lost inside.  I was alone, had few friends and was struggling with being away from home.  The truth is, I felt different. I was the alien in the room.

The first line was, “I am the color of creamed caramel coffee.”  At that time, the visual worked because I struggled with my skin tone, and the ‘creamed caramel coffee’ reference allowed me to identify with self. But, the rest of the poem, was a reflection of all the things that I wasn’t.  Thinking of it now, it was an attempt at empowerment that made me feel more depressed and alone at that particular moment in my life.

I rewrote the poem some years later, and it’s become my personal anthem.  A challenge to self to remain my own cheerleader when everyone else falls away.  It has become a continual affirmation not of what I could have been, or might be.  It is my here, now, and future.

So my words for being wiser, to any person and to my younger self goes something like this:

I AM

I AM the color of creamed caramel coffee.  I AM tall, warm, and beautiful.  I AM not what you expected me to be, I AM one who moves mountains.  I AM a survivor of illness, racism, and hate.  I AM tough!

I AM innovative, passionate, and constantly moving forward.  I AM always thinking of what’s next. 

I AM too busy being successful than to reflect on what I’m not.  I AM seeing all that I AM.

I AM smart, I AM present, I AM ethical but most of all, I AM PHENOMINAL!

At the end of the day, I AM still learning and growing, and guess what…so are YOU.

What you say, you do become. Stay positive and continually affirm all that YOU ARE!  Begin each day with positive “I AM’s”, write it in a journal, on the wall, wherever your eyes can see it.  Become your own best friend and cheerleader!  To change your life, you have to change your attitude and how you see yourself.  Ethically speak to yourself with love and kindness every day. EVERY DAY!

To reach me: 

Lisa Raymond, Ethics2Talk, LLC (ethics@talk.com), (412) 430-3428, or email:  Lisa@LCRay214.com

Business owner of First Choice Temporary Services, Inc.,  Ethics2Talk, LLC, Life Coach, Motivational Speaker, and Adjunct English Professor at Robert Morris University