When I was in school I was a straight-A student, however, I didn’t share that information freely. If you were a close friend of mine you probably already knew this about me. But if I told anyone who didn’t know it would typically elicit an exaggerated eye roll from them.
But that wasn’t the reason I didn’t tell anyone. I can handle some exaggerated facial expressions. The real reason I never wanted to fess up to being an A student was that I never felt like I deserved to be an A student. School came very easily to me. I never had to work hard for those grades. Okay, I can tell you are rolling your eyes now.
All kidding aside, I liked school. I enjoyed learning and I never really needed to study that much to retain the information that was presented. I suppose it was really a gift. But the message I got from other people was that if you didn’t work hard for something you probably didn’t deserve it. If it came that easily there must be something wrong with it.
I began to feel guilty for not working harder for my achievements. I started to feel like an imposter and I placed little value on my status as an A student. I felt that probably anyone could do exactly as I had done if they wanted to. I assumed that I was just lucky. Why else would it all come so easily?
But what if everyone has an “easy streak” in them? Something that comes to them naturally. Easily. Should it be discounted because they didn’t work hard for it? Some people have the ability to draw or write or sing or play a sport without any formal training whatsoever. When something comes to us naturally it’s easy to convince ourselves that it isn’t special, that anyone can do it. We overlook our own talents, perhaps abandon them altogether, in pursuit of something that takes “real work” to achieve.
But why can’t easy just be easy? Why can’t we allow what comes naturally to be natural? What if we took that one thing, that incredible gift that we were given and enjoy the ease of it? Lean into the ease of it and form it into something that we can appreciate and value about ourselves.
I say find your easy. Find the thing that you love that comes to you with ease. You may not know exactly what it is but if you spend a little time looking for it you will find it. You will recognize it by the way it makes you feel. By the way you lose track of time when you are immersed in it. And maybe by the way you discount it and pass it off as nothing. As something that “anyone” can do. It may be hiding as something that seems frivolous. As something you keep telling yourself that you will do “when you get the time”.
Once you find it, claim it. And know that it was given to you for a reason. Believe in yourself and lean in. And if people want to roll their eyes, then let them.
