Who I am Today Posted on 4 May 14:03 , 0 comments
I am not who I was ten years ago, a year ago, or yesterday. None of us are. Before you make assumptions about my statement, read the explanation below.The human existence is much more complex than one single factor... Imagine placing a flower on a white canvas. The flower is the entire picture. You then place a sheer piece of organza over the flower. You can still see the flower, but the organza captures the light and the thin layer is between your eye and the flower. The flower is no longer the entire picture. You keep adding layers of materials to the canvas, distorting the image of the flower. What you see is no longer a flower, but the result of everything you have added on top of it. The flower will be there no matter how many layers you add onto the canvas, but you wouldn't point to your canvas and say that the entire picture is defined by flower. At this point, the organza is as relevant as the flower is.
When you are born, you are like the flower. Everything you learn and experience is like having another piece of material layered on top, changed you and shaping you. We have the incredible human capability to learn from experience and example, allowing us to speak, learn new information and walk. People we have met, places we have visited, and things we have done throughout our lifetime have made us into the people we are today. Good or bad, every moment adds another layer to our existence.
I am more complex than the color of my skin, where I am from, my religious or personal beliefs, job title or any other factor that is easy to point out. We all are. Single factors like where we are from are all very important, but focusing on only one of the many factors of a human existence only limits us to an incomplete picture. Seeing other people for who they are today is the same, since they too change as time goes on. Even if there is no effort to change in an individual, it happens to everyone. No one has control over time.
Who we are today is everything we have been, but who we were is not everything we are today. The present is the only place in time where we have all the layers that are our existence. The person you were ten years ago is still there, but it's been transformed every single day since then by new experiences. Running from past experiences is not what I am suggesting, since it helped create who we are today. But being able to move past what was, and focus on what is right now allows us to embrace the present situation. It's up to us what the layers of our present and future will look like.
XO- Kate Stoltz
Fashion Designer Kate Stoltz photographed by Lena Shkoda in New York City
To start the year off with a fresh start, I spent the New Year out in snowy Aspen, Colorado. Having learned how to snowboard in my teens, I still enjoy spending a couple of days shredding the slopes. Literally shredding the slopes, considering that most skiers actually hate snowboarders.. our wide boards pack the powder and the slopes can become icy. A new board, combined with a year long absence from the slopes made the first day on the slopes a little treacherous for me. However, snowboarding is like riding a bike- you never really forget how to ride. 
