She was an author of children’s books. E. L. Konigsburg is the only author to be awarded both the Newberry Medal and the Newberry Honor in the same year. Her voice brought joy and curiosity to life, and she changed the way female authors were received. I enjoyed this quote from her:
Before you can be anything, you have to be yourself.
– E. L. Konigsburg 2013
That’s the hardest thing to find.
Her books were published in the 1960s, at a time when not everyone thought women should be published. I can only imagine the criticism, comments and personal challenges she endured to become published. Which makes her words that much more relatable. Before you can be anything, you have to be yourself. Which is a statement we all can understand, the challenge is actually living out our own, individual journeys in order to become ourself.
If you had asked me when I was in my early twenties what I was going to do with my life, who I was going to be, what I was going to do…I had a plan. I had it all figured out. Not much of that actually happened as I planned. I turned sixty recently and I would not change a thing. The good, the bad, the ugly portions of my days on this planet have all worked together to get me where I am today. We are the cumulation of our choices, whether they go the way we want or not. Our greatest lessons are usually our biggest mistakes or missteps. I think the greatest challenge we face today is being who we are, accepting the stubbed toes and blunders, embracing our own triumphs even if they do not go viral on the internet. What a gift it is to wake up each morning and know yourself AND to have ideas, dreams and goals of how you still want to grow to become more than you are today.
We live in a world that values fame, influencing, internet sensations, the latest thing, and quickly forgets the value people bring to each day. In that world it can be hard to feel significant or important enough to be ourselves. One person on a planet of billions seems like a speck of dust on my coffee table. Yet, that is only true if we let it be true. E. L. Konigsburg urges us to remember that the hardest thing to find is yourself, and yet once you do…no one can take it away!
So cherish who you are today, and look forward to the person you are becoming. Take courage in each day you wake up to the opportunity to be a better version of yourself, even if the internet never validates your existence. YOU are important, strong and have the power to be whoever you want, so get busy being the best you there is. Today is your clean slate and you can do anything if you are willing to put in the work.
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