“You’re like a chameleon”, said my friend, accusation clear in her voice. “You change according to the situation; according to who you are around!” and then six horrible words that crushed what little identity I had “You don’t know who you are!” I was dumbfounded and then tearful. Was she right I wondered? 

I imagined myself to be easy-going and compatible but I had just been likened to a chameleon, changing in seconds depending on who was in my immediate vicinity overshadowing my real colors.

The flexibility that I had learned at a young age and that I thought I wore so well was now being compared to a reptile. A cold-blooded reptile that changed according to the world around it, but was never fully a part of that world.

I had also been accused of being an impostor; fabricating who I was to become what others wanted…