Discovering who I am

In the past several months I've been giving a lot of thought to the question, "Who am I?" It seems that giving up my career and becoming a stay at home mom (SAHM) has given me the chance to reflect on who I was in the past and who I want to be in the future.

The other day I was talking to Sister #1 about being bored. She had read an article about how it can be good for your children to be bored because it causes them to use their creativity and imagination to entertain themselves. If you're a SAHM, you're probably thinking, "Rarely am I bored." I would agree 100% with that sentiment, however, I definitely have more opportunities as a SAHM to think. When I was a teacher (Medical Anatomy and Physiology, Medical Terminology, Health, and Introduction to Health Science) my days would consist of faculty meetings, teaching, planning, grading, emailing, calling home, meetings with the HOSA club I sponsored, K would drop J off to me at work at the end of the day, J and I would stay after school to grade and help students with their work, we'd go home, clean, cook dinner, eat, go to bed. Not a lot of time for deep observations on my life.

It seems at various stages of my life, I've always had some outside force as my identifying characteristic. When I was in high school I was either "the soccer player" or "the mormon" and as an adult I was "a teacher." While I can still be identified as "a mom," there is a lot more room in my life for further exploration of interests. It's actually very exciting! However, there has been more than one occasion when I've thought to myself, "What the heck do I even like?" or "Do I have an opinion on that?" I honestly just never had or took the time in the past to consider these questions.

One of the reasons I started blogging was because I wanted to document this journey as I sift through my emotions, thoughts, and feelings to determine who I am. I want to have a dynamic life where I have many interests, but most of all, I want to feel like I am actually living my life. What a waste to just get up every morning and go through the motions. I don't believe that's why we're here. I feel we are here on this earth to have experiences, to gain knowledge, and help others.

Here is what I know so far:

I am a disciple of Christ. I sincerely want to live my life as he did. I feel like shaping my life after the pattern that Christ set for us will lead us to eternal happiness.

I am a wife. I've been blessed with a husband that cares about our relationship and our family unit. I want to be better at being a wife.

I am a mom. I take being a mother very seriously, but not too seriously, because this kid needs to have fun too! Recently I've started following C. Jane Kendrick's blog. I don't always see eye-to-eye with her views, but I do like the way she makes me think about my beliefs. I have a few posts coming up on some of those experiences.

I love the human body. I'm hoping to get back into researching and sharing the different aspects of the human body that both amaze and confuse me! One aspect of being a SAHM that worried me is that I didn't want to be someone that could only talk about my kids. I want to continue to learn and grow, this is the major area I want to do that in. Someday I will go back to teaching, I'm hoping that transition can be as painless as possible.

Is anyone else/has anyone else had the feeling you weren't sure who you were? What process did/are you going through with it?

Tell me your thoughts on the subject--the good, the bad, and the ugly!

And, because we haven't had pictures in awhile:

J photo-documented one of many trips we took to Ikea. You're welcome.