Breaking out of Boxes

Reclaiming my multi-dimensional self

No matter how you got here, I'm psyched outta my mind that you chose to stay long enough to read this sentence. Hopefully you'll stick around to read more.

I started my writing career in children's books because that's where I feel truly at home. Blame it on the teacher/camp counselor in me. But I have a problem being put in a single box. I'm realizing that, while I've always been a rule-follower, I've never liked the boxes we're put in. Forced to isolate pieces of ourselves as if our whole being is far too much to handle in one setting.

I mean how are we supposed to compartmentalize this much person? You're going to get all of me or none of me.

Exploring the world and myself, I've begun to recognize the boxes people put me in, ones I put myself in, or the walls society builds around me. And my response is a resounding "NO!"

I'm pretty much done being only part of a person in given circumstances. Certainly I'm not alone in this.

More than the sum of my parts

I don't know about y'all (oh, by the way I'm from Tennessee so that'll come up every now and then), but I grew up believing that I could either be a tom-girl or a girly girl. I could pick one job. I could be funny or be pretty or be smart. Everything is a 'pick-one' style scenario and you dare not be too complex lest ye confuse the status quo.

These are some of the boxes I'm talking about and the 'parts' I mentioned earlier. I've outgrown just being seen as a teacher. And don't get me wrong; being a mom is my favorite thing, but I'm more than that too!

I want to be Paige. The educator, the mother, the friend, the author, the sister, the wife, the marketer, the sudoku champion, the nap-taker, the goofball and so on! Me in all my magnificence.

...working on the "with the confidence of Debbie Reynolds" part.

Thanks for tagging along!

Beyond appreciating your support for my books, I'm ecstatic to have this space on my blog to express myself beyond a 3rd-grade level and talk about grown-up stuff. So thanks for joining me.

Feel love, give love. Every day.

Paige

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P.S. - It should be said that I'm aware there are so many more (and much more harmful) labels and boxes society has and continues to place on members of our society than are listed in this brief post. This is simply what's on my mind for me in this moment of my life. From the perspective of a woman learning a lot about herself.

Don't worry, we'll talk about other people. This is just day one. 😉

P.P.S. - I just rewatched 'Barbie' and am realizing that I obviously had this epiphany mainly because of that film. (Like literally her getting back in the box...I was all, "Paige...it's right there.")