Look Alive, Sis! 7 Days to Awaken Your Sober MindSýnishorn

True Identity

Do you wear masks?

I don’t mean those fun pampering face masks to treat your skin. I mean the kind that covers (or even hides) your true essence. Some masks say: I’m in control; I’m not afraid; I don’t care; I’m not hurt or I’ve got it all together. We fear if we take these masks off, we might be met with judgment or disappointment. Part of this sober-minded journey is stepping into your authenticity, being seen for who you really are. The way we see ourselves matters; we live out of our identity.

Let’s face it. We all desire meaning in our lives. It begins early on as we search for significance and acceptance externally when really the journey is getting back to who we are intrinsically . . . not what we do but who we really are. We attempt to find this identity by over-giving, over-performing, and all of the other “overs”! We forget that we are worthy and have incredible value simply by virtue of being God’s unique creation.

When I first began shifting away from mindless sipping in the evenings, I had to challenge my beliefs and I also had to practice genuine self-compassion. I started changing the way I related to myself in my own mind. I was more kind to myself than harsh, and I was basing more of my identity on the truth of the way our Creator sees us—and not just in theory, but in a deeper love relationship. I went back to my roots of believing who I was based on Whose I was.

A bedrock of my “why” for wanting change in my life goes back to wholehearted living. I didn’t want to be torn in two with a divided mind or a dual identity. The duplicity in my life was sometimes painful. Seriously, sometimes it felt like I was one person by day and another by night. Masks of protection on throughout the day and then using a drink (or three) to wriggle them off at night . . . only to create someone I didn’t always recognize.

In order to really become sober-minded, awake, alert, and present in our lives, we must have an identity rooted in truth, watered by grace, and able to receive the sunlight coming from above. You’re worth it, Sister, just as you are!