Do You!

November 16, 2017

When I was in high school, I idolized my sister Cynthia.  She was smart, beautiful, adventurous and was an excellent seamstress.  The clothes she made always looked like the ones you bought at Macy’s.  She was also the first of my siblings to head across the country to college and  attend San Francisco State University where she majored in fashion design.  Such a glamourous life and my goal was to follow right behind her.   

There was only one problem.

I couldn’t sew a straight line if someone paid me.  I remember taking a home economics class and my project was to make a maxi skirt.  By the time it was 75 percent completed, it looked homemade! The pockets were uneven, the waistline puckered, and I couldn’t figure out how to evenly hem the skirt. I quickly came to the realization that I absolutely hated sewing and knew I would never become a fashion designer. Ugh! My dreams of becoming my big sister’s “mini me” were crushed!! 

As a result, I needed to quickly come up with plan B. Since I was always fascinated by business and often made marketing suggestions to my mother who owned a beauty shop, I decided to major in business administration with a minor in marketing communications at the University of Pittsburgh. During my sophomore year, I was recruited by Inroads for an advertising and public relations internship at Calgon Corporation.  At the time, I had no idea what people in communications did for a living.  However, once I researched the field and worked the first summer, I was hooked. Over 35 years later, I’m still working in the communications field.  

More importantly, I discovered early on that I needed to run my own race.  I stop comparing myself to other people.    

We often get caught up in trying to mimic someone else’s life.  However, we are all unique and each of us have special gifts. Whether it’s with jobs or life in general, just because someone else is following a certain path doesn’t mean we should want the same thing. In fact, the more time we spend worrying about what others are doing, the less time we are focusing on our own success.  

The one thing to keep in mind is that the only person’s expectations you must live up to is your own.  Once you figure out what you are meant to do, go out and do you. It’s liberating! 

So, you are probably wondering what ever happened to the unfinished maxi skirt?  For years the skirt hung in my closet in hopes that I might finish it one day.  It eventually made it to the Goodwill donation pile! 

“Be yourself because an original is worth more than a copy.” 

–unknown