In this world filled with social media influencers and entrepreneurs we are continually urged to "brand ourselves".  In other words, who we are is not enough...we need to market ourselves to others with a cohesive strategy along with logos, use catch phrases associated with us, and we need to sport a particular "look" which will appeal to a particular demographic.  This is especially important at higher levels of certain professions.

Maybe you aren't upwardly mobile or are entirely uninterested in becoming an online influencer, so you feel this is completely unimportant in your life and you laugh it all off.

I beg to differ. We certainly do brand ourselves!  We brand ourselves with unhelpful statements and internal thoughts. You might be right and you are not intentionally branding yourself as part of some marketing strategy, but we all absolutely do it.

Personally, I have branded myself as a complete dud at crafting.  I am a non-crafter in my own head, and have said aloud for years that I could "never do that sort of thing" if it involves a needle and thread, color combining, or any sort of actual dexterity.  Viewing myself as entirely uncreative in any way, I have missed the ways I actually AM creative!  Labels are powerful things, and we all buy into them regardless of whether they come from our own brains, or if they are handed down to us by family and friends.

Recently though, I have made it my mission to find some interesting hobbies, and to re-evaluate who I am as an almost 60 year old woman.  Are all my labels and branding correct?  Have I made assumptions about myself all along?  Taking time to really assess myself I have discovered a few things.

I AM creative!  However, it isn't always in "crafty" ways.  I have interesting ideas for creating worship experiences, successful businesses, and helping people problem solve with issues in their personal lives.  I make unique  connections between sociology and current events and that can guide me to make more interesting decisions and carve out unusual life paths.  I sing with others and create music in multiple settings, even if not from my own original compositions.I also am a halfway decent writer and use that in creative pursuits as I pound away at the keyboard writing blogs, Facebook posts, sermons, and newspaper articles.  All of these are, indeed, creative pursuits.

I have also explored traditional crafting anew, and discovered I very much enjoy creating simple mosaics, and I have just made my very first 2D felted image using...yeah, you guessed it, a needle and wool.  It even turned out nicely for a first attempt!

It was important for me to let go of my personal label or "brand", picked up decades ago, and re-examine it.  Does this brand fit me any longer?  Was it ever all that accurate in the first place?  Or have I done myself a disservice by pigeon-holing myself with a personal brand that stated I was, "Not crafty.  Not creative."  More importantly, what have I missed out on by donning that branding, accepting it as truth, and not trying something new that might disprove it?

God wants us to live completely free of labels.  God knows we have far more capacity inside us than we do, and also wants to work with us to help us "craft" a fulfilling and rich life.  Let's all drop the branding, stop putting ourselves in boxes of our own making, and explore all possibilities!  Trust me, God will meet you there with new ideas and new experiences that will surprise and delight you :-)

In Love and Light,
Rev. Cindy