Can a hip-hop dancing, classically trained violins make it big? If you’ve heard of Lindsey Stirling, then you know that this unusual performance combination is alive and well and drawing hundreds of millions of YouTube views, driving two studio albums and supporting her current world tour.
Lindsey Stirling combined her love of the violin and dancing and did everything possible to “make it,” even competing on “America’s Got Talent” where she was told there was no market for a hip-hopping violinist. Ms Stirling proved everyone wrong when she decided to do what she loved and use YouTube to share her talent with the world. In a recent interview, she told NPR’s Scott Simon that “so often we feel like we have to be inside the box of what everybody else wants us to be.” She went on to say that, after many struggles, she realized that her health and success was “about first discovering what was under the shell and then learning to love that person that was under it. And then not being afraid to break free.”
I am struck by how profound and true this young woman’s comments are. In my practice, I work with young adults, many of whom are struggling to figure out who they are (aren’t we all, to some extent?). From this work, I have found the following activities help to create a strong sense of self-knowledge and self-worth.
UNDERSTAND YOURSELF
- Identify what’s most important to you – You might consider these to be your values. Mine for them by considering times when you are at your best, things that drive you crazy and what you would fight for.
- Outline your strengths – What do you do particularly well? Use the Clifton StrengthsFinder as an accurate way to put a name and definition to these strengths.
TELL YOURSELF
- Practice affirmations – Regularly remind yourself that you are a valuable human being. Use specifics that matter to you, for example “I am capable, confident and smart.”
- Define your life purpose – Who are you in the world? What do you offer? Commit this to paper in a memorable phrase or two.
BE YOURSELF
- Make choices that support your values and life purpose – Your personal affirmations and beliefs about yourself come to life when you act on them.
- Take advantage of opportunities to live “your way” – Build competencies and confidence as you practice being your best self.
It is easy to fall into a pattern of living other people’s expectations of us, rather than developing our own definition of who we are. Not being true to ourselves can lead to dissatisfaction and even debilitating health conditions. Being conscious of this discrepancy in our actions can be the first step to making a change. Use Lindsey Stirling as inspiration to break out of the box you are in to understand yourself, tell yourself and, most importantly, be yourself.
