The old adage says “Never judge a book by its cover”, but sadly, I have always found this to be the case for me.  From the time I was a little girl, I have been “judged” for what kind of library my book was found in, for what section others thought my book should be in, for what others thought my book would be about, for the audience others thought my book would appeal to, and even for how others thought my book would, and should, end…all based on my book’s cover.

You see, my book’s cover has always been that of a story that should seemingly be light-hearted, fun, and easy to read, without a lot of intrigue, depth, or substance.  However, my book has never felt this way to me, even though I didn’t know what my story was going to be about.

Without knowing, it was easy to listen to others, and even let them write my story for me.  Over time, though, I found that others were not writing my story, but rather, were writing a story for themselves to fit into their library.  I had to go back, rip out those pages, throw them away, and begin writing for myself.  But again, what was my story going to be about?  It was frightening to face all of those blank pages, and yet, it was also very empowering.  The challenging part was finding what my story was going to be.  Through years of self-exploration, discovery, trial and error, mistakes, lessons, experience, change, and growth, I learned what my book was made of—strength, determination, faith, resiliency, heart, willfulness, and perseverance—and now, it was up to me to decide how I was going to write my story.  Even though I had learned this, I was to open to collaboration, but yet again, I found I had to go back, delete certain parts, re-write, and make revisions.  Selfishly, I wanted my story to be written by me, for me, and with me.  I wanted all of the copyrights.  I wanted to be my own creator, author, editor, and publicist.  My book was going to be all about me and the story of finding my way to being ME.

My story is still in the process of being written…

As it should be; fore, a person’s story is an ever-evolving, self-narrative of their life.  As human beings, especially as women, we are continually learning, growing, and transforming into who we are meant to become.

My story has been an ongoing work in progress.  With that being said, “writing” that story takes time, courage, patience, and acceptance of self to create an authentic story, and become a genuine book.  No one else if ever going to be able to create that for you, as that truth only lies uniquely within you.  Therefore, you must take the time to learn and know who you are as a person.  Never let anyone tell you who they think you are or should be, or who they think you are not or shouldn’t be, simply based on your book’s cover.

While we are born into a book with a certain cover, that story is unwritten.  It is entirely up to us to decide what our story is going to be about, and how our story is going to end.  In the meantime, though, always remember to “Never judge a book by its cover”, and if you find that someone else has done this to you, tell them to read deeper; books are deceiving and the story is rarely as the cover appears.