Who Am I?

When I worked in Human Resources, a frequent question I would ask when interviewing a potential employee was "What can you tell me about yourself?" and the candidate would invariably recite their resume and occasionally provide some other personal details. Whatever situation you are faced with, people describe themselves based on the situation they are presented. When we look in the mirror, we consider our personal attributes and we are often incredibly critical.

"I'm too fat". "I'm too thin." "My nose is too big". "I hate my hair .""I wish I were taller, thinner, blonder, tanner,...." the list goes on and on. But do any of those things define you? Or rather, do you define yourself in terms your role in life - mother, wife, employee? Is that who YOU are? I hope to explore this question here, finding your authentic self. So who am I?

I am a gymnastics fan-during the 1976 Olympics, I was glued to the television and watched Nadia Comaneci change the face of women's gymnastics. She was perfect-literally! No one had ever seen that before! Like most girls that year, I dreamt of going to the Olympics but my skills were definitely not competition material. My brief moment of glory was a daring dismount off the balance beam that made everyone say "ooh". I continue to watch gymnastics and am always amazed at what the human body can do!

I am a dancer at heart and did ballet and jazz in high school. I participated in our High School dance team and even took jazz as an adult and wore the flashy costume for the recitals. Zumba and cardio dance fill my desire to keep the feet moving! I will share more about that in future blogs.

I am a Fanilow! Yes, I love Barry Manilow and have since middle school. I've seen him perform at least a dozen times; once in Atlantic City where I sat with my elbows on the stage. I was fortunate to get an extra ticket from a group of women who were big gamblers so they were comped seats front and center. At the end of the show, they said they enjoyed watching me as much as watching Barry. I proudly wore my t-shirts and even had a concert jacket that I wore to school every day - did kids make fun of me? Sometimes, but it didn't bother me, I wore it anyway! I think that's when I began to realize that other people's opinions should not have an impact on how you live your life!

I still listen to my Barry playlist when I'm walking!

I am also a wife of 25 plus years to my best friend-who is NOT a Fanilow! As a matter of fact, we don't like the same music, rarely cheer for the same sports team but he is still my partner for life. I am a very proud Mom of three young adults - they keep me busy and entertained!

Knowing who YOU are is important! As my children grow and move on with their lives, I would feel empty if I didn't know who I was deep down inside. If I didn't have my own interests to keep me going. It's quite ok for me to "Live Like Lynn"