I once asked a co-worker who had been working at the job for 10 years this question: « if you did not have your degree and were not working here, if you could do anything else in your life, what would it be? »

She answered: « I would be on an island 🌴 barefeet and pregnant selling coconut 🥥. »

I was shocked and I laughed at the time. She always looks so polished; so barefoot, pregnant on an island selling coconuts was the last thing on my mind!

Then she looked at me and she said « I’m so serious! » she continued « things in my life sort of happened… got my degree, got promoted and simply work here. I love the job, but I did not plan for any of this… »

This made me think about the pressure some of us free-spirited people endure daily. What a pressure to be influenced into wearing a suit every day when all you want to do is walk around bare feet ! Of course, the way society is constructed we cannot all do what we want all the time, but shouldn’t there be a balance in all this?

For some, this might be considered a fantasy and that this is not realistic, but I genuinely believe we are born naturally to fit into a specific environment. Some of us never get lucky enough to find that environment, and it’s unfortunate. Some people prefer the cotton dress and the sandals, while others prefer the haute couture with the Louboutin, and the rest of us we want both. I am in that 3rd category!

If I could quantify my style, I would say that I am 75% T-shirts and jackets and 25% haute couture. 85% free-spirited and 15% polished. What I realized about the love of God in my life actually is that the more I read his word the less I care about people wanting to change who I am. The more I pray the more I can see just much covering up people do to be accepted. Maybe we cannot move to an island selling coconut to survive, but we can strive to be authentic in our choices and whose influence we choose to ignore.

Why would God create you with a fire in your heart to be yourself yet rejoice in your choice to be someone else? Think about that next time you feel the need to give in to the pressure!

I want to see more people selling coconut 🥰