Where you are in this moment and how you’ve been handling everything tossed your way is more than enough. The only prerequisite to being extraordinary is to be yourself. Nurture your light, love, creativity, and passion because when you recognize what you have to offer, you’ll be unstoppable, and the world will be better off because you existed.
Listen. Maybe you’re like me, and you’re skeptical of your worth or ability to bring something wonderful into this world. I get it. But, from one skeptic to another, it’s true what they say — We all have something to offer. Sometimes we just need to shift our perspective.
When I was a little girl, I thought I needed to do big things to “earn my keep” here on Earth. After all, my first months of life were in an orphanage, and self-worth was my first insecurity. But I digress.
My parents, you know, the ones who adopted me and gave me a second chance at life, were also Gods in their communities. Our house was full of quotes and images of heroes like Mohandas Gandhi and Mother Teresa, and it didn’t take long for me to shoulder the burden of ensuring my value in some grand way. Living with perfect role models for altruism, you’d think my path would have been clear. But the more I tried to replicate my parent’s approach, the more I shrank.
I had yet to discover an essential truth we must all stumble across when seeking our own path. Being ourselves is the most magnanimous thing we could ever aspire to be. This is not to say we should kick back and coast through life. If anything, we must get moving! But the path we choose is individual, just as much as it is collective. My parents may have instilled a desire to do good in this world, but how I go about doing that is entirely up to me.
So when you come across a phrase or a quote about how you’re good enough just the way you are, I challenge you not to roll your eyes. Yes, it’s sappy, and we all make mistakes. But here’s the bottom line: despite all our foibles and blunders, there is no prerequisite to being awesome.
We can be our own worst enemies, criticizing and demeaning ourselves for every little mess up. But I’d like to leave you with the thing I try to tell myself and my children.
It doesn’t matter how often we mess up. We’re fantastic, just the way we are. Everyone is allowed to make mistakes. While it may be advantageous for us to learn from those mistakes to minimize future pain, the last thing anyone benefits from is an absence of self-love and compassion.
So maybe you cringe at sappy posts or those quotes on Instagram that say you’re amazing, incredible, fantastic, and stupendous. But what if they’re right? What if, despite all our faults and mistakes, we’re magnanimous? What would the world look like if you believed; truly believed that you were awesome just the way you are?
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