To Thine Own Self Be True

Perhaps it is the late fall that has me waxing poetic, but never has Shakespeare seemed closer in truth than this past week. To thine own self be true.

It is often in the following that we find we are better taking our own path (skipping desire to quote the obvious Frost here).  But first we must do what we perceive as expected, "the right thing" even though the norm is at odds with whom we truly are. All experiences, good or bad, hold value if we choose to learn from them.  For every negative there is a positive, every slammed door opens an opportunity, and for every awkward journey there is the chance to turn around. 

Emily has decided to leave UIW after this semester and follow her dream of cosmetology school.  It is where her heart has always been and where she belongs. I've known it since she was a small child spending hours in the bathtub washing and styling the hair of allllllll her Barbie dolls.  The bathroom was a stock pile of those large Barbie heads whose hair could be styled and make-up applied.  They were everywhere like a macabre scene from a B rate horror movie.  But they always looked divine. 

Emily has a natural gift.  But cosmetology school didn't seem to be "the right thing" for her to do when all of her friends were headed off to college.  So she headed off to college, too.  She just needed to know what she would miss if she never tried dorm life in a big city. Turns out all she missed was home. UIW is a beautiful school but it isn't the right path for her. As a Mom, I knew her decision was made early but in true Emily fashion, she wasn't giving up without a fight. But no matter how hard she worked, it just wasn't a labor she loved.  The only advice was to tell her to go in the direction of her heart. 

 

To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man. ~Shakespeare