A mold is a funny thing. It’s meant to turn out things that are shaped the same way. There’s a mold for being a wife, a mother. There’s a mold for being a corporate worker, or a farmer, or a student. There are molds for everything and we shouldn’t strive to fit into any of them.
You may not be aware you are trying to fit into a mold
And yet, we often see someone we’d like to emulate, their hairstyle, their type of clothing, their ease of manners. It’s easy to spend a lot of time finding ways to make yourself “better.”
You are perfect just the way you are
When you’re true to your own uniqueness, you express your true self. When you accept your unique version of being and doing, you’re celebrating your own truth. Adopt something if you like, but always know that it’s your unique take that’ll always make you stand out.
“Mold” also means “to shape”
“To shape” is much more appealing. The only way we change our own world is to change ourselves. We can change how we see the world. If we look for positive, we’ll see positive. So, if you feel you’re being confined in a mold, ditch the mold and simply shape your life as you need and want to.
I was reading a novel in which a wife of 19 years was getting a divorce. She had been operating in the mold of “good wife and mother” for a long time. Suddenly the wife part was gone and she had to redefine herself. Had she allowed herself to become hardened in the mold? Or was she still capable of assuming a new form – and if so, what would that form look like? Don’t let yourself get hardened in any mold.
Take your time changing
I’ve never identified with being old, or even aging. But it’s taken me seven years living in a senior community to figure out that not only am I not like the other people here, but I’m going to do everything I can to not fit that expected mold!
Breaking the mold means I have to take a little heat
If I’m going to not be like the majority of old people, what am I going to be like? There’s only one place I can go – deep within to see the unique mix of all that is me, and shape it into whatever I need to be right now.
I’ve had to make it OK with myself to not participate in this community. I have to look deeply within to see what I need to learn at this point in my life. I examine my skills and my knowledge base; but most of all, I follow my heart.
I’m alone in my immediate environment but through the Internet have discovered strong, supportive, warm, incredible friends all over the world. I founded the Deeper Song Community to gather like-minded people together. This new “mold” is fluid and ever-changing.
You shape your own destiny
The choices I make are based on what I need right now, at this point in my life. It’s not about what I should do, or am expected to do. It’s about what is calling me next, what I have to do.
That’s what I’m doing. That’s how I’m shaping my current mold.
If you are caught in a mold you don’t want, break it!
Look closely to see if you have conformed to things in your life that aren’t what you want, that don’t honor who you are and don’t make you happy.
Then reshape your life by changing how you think and what you choose. Break the mold you’re trapped in and shape your life with free-flowing, in-the-moment choices.
To Sing a Deeper Song consider:
How Do You Nurture “Different”
How Do You Define Success?
The Length of Your Reach
Are You An Independent Learner?
What Do You Do for People That They Can’t Get Elsewhere?
35—How to Hold the Space for Change.
24-How Not Fitting In Helps Your Be Extraordinary
27 – Why Have You Been Chosen
