Who's That Girl?

The question 'Who am I?' is something many, including myself, find ourselves fixated upon when asked—but is it okay not to know? I truly have no idea, and although I am more than okay with that, I felt a subtle pressure to figure it out when pondering how to articulate this piece on personal identity.

There is peace in not knowing. Before I posed this question of self-discovery to myself, I was happy and content in allowing myself to simply 'be'. Some may say this is dressed as fancy avoidance, but how can you know something that is always moving, always changing, and very contingent upon perspective? You can't! I feel like this question also keeps us confined, conforming to the narrative of what we tell ourselves we need to be. Then, in a moment when you are asked to step into something 'else’ or when an unmet version of yourself is required, this preconceived identity could be the very thing that blocks your shot.

I could tell you what I have been, but we don't live there anymore—in the past. I could share my dreams and desires, my future plans—but we're not there yet either.

I could give you some surface-level descriptive words like woman, mother, writer, friend—or my name—but that's simply the shell. Who I am, as Latoya Jade, is made up of values, ancestral voices, loves, lusters, moments, exchanges, lessons, teachings, and creations—and once these have moved through me, I am different.

That's why I document my pages—my life is a story written through my beliefs, my actions, my faith, my dreams, my dharma, and my karma, and I will forever be a tangible and yet fluid representation of a multitude of moments.

If I lost you in the depths—let's rewind to the peace of not knowing, experimental play, and just living a beautifully vibrant life with an open heart, a willingness to expand, being a kind human, and reclaiming the power that comes from living in alignment with your destiny. For you.