YOU, my friend, are undeniably, unquestionably, extraordinarily amazing and powerful!
Have you forgotten this already?
In case you’re stuck in a moment of temporary confusion, allow me to remind you of some truths you need to start telling yourself more often…
1. “I do not have to settle.”
Oh, how I love your fierceness, your undying drive, the sheer wildcat intensity with which you slink through the jungle like a creature of passion – a passion that lights you up and that rises from the center of your calmest, deepest, most grounded self.
I so love it how you refuse to settle – for less than your best, for less than you deserve, for less than what it is you were made to be and to have and to do.
You won’t settle for the work that makes you a living, without also balancing in a life that’s worth living. You won’t settle for the man or woman who keeps you warm at night, but who can’t see his or her way into the depths of your soul or the breadth of your heart. You won’t settle for giving less than everything to your work, to your play, to your loves, to your life.
In fact, if there’s one thing you will settle into in this lifetime, it’s the belief that the greatest risk is never to risk at all. And oh, how you’re willing to dare greatly – for passion, for connection, for the adventure of being alive.
I absolutely love it, you powerful, non-settling soul, you!
2. “I have great reasons to trust myself and the universe.”
You’ve come a far way – from listening to the expectations and the outer shoutings of the crowds, to learning to listen to your own inner compass and your own inner voice.
You know now that the first person to check in with, always, is your deepest, truest self, and she has never let you down. She knows when to say, “Yes please” and when to say “Heck no!”, when to lean in and when to let go. She knows when to strike hard, when to back off, and when to slow down and breathe.
In every instant, she knows exactly what you need and exactly what to do.
And you’ve learned to trust her.
But you’ve learned to trust others too. You know in whom to place your trust and how to let others in fully, deeply… completely. You’ve learned it can be safe to open and let yourself be seen and heard and loved for the magnificent person you are.
Lastly, you’ve learned to trust in this crazy nest-of-a-universe that holds you and to fully rest in its inevitable care. Storms will come in this lifetime, you know, but with time the rain and the rage and the shaking wind will subside into tranquility, and even the hardest of winters will soften into spring.
With everything inside you, without a fragment of doubt, you know this to be true.
Yes, I love the way that you’ve learned to trust – wholeheartedly, fiercely, deeply – in yourself, in others, and in the universe that holds you.
3. “My weirdness is one of my greatest strengths.”
That’s right; you got it: You are powerful because you’re such an unrivalled weirdo.
I love all those weird little things about you – the way you snort when you laugh, the way you rock those glasses with style, and how you shake it out on the dance floor like no one else is judging you.
I love the way you show up in the world: unapologetically, eccentric-ly, wholly yourself, because who you are is the one and only YOU.
I love your individuality. Please say you’ll never stop showing the world who YOU are.
4. “I can continue to let my struggles open me, and not close me.”
On the days you were betrayed – not once, not twice, but again and again and again – you still vowed to keep your heart open anyway.
You were mistreated, but you learned to love others anyway.
Life sucked sometimes, but you didn’t let it suck the life out of you.
Instead of closing, you opened.
Instead of hardening, you softened.
And when life hit you hard, you chose not to die, but to let yourself be born again.
You’ve chosen love over hate, compassion over indifference, and transformation over ruin. You are blossoming more and more every day, and I couldn’t be more proud of you.
5. “I am still here learning and trying, even after all my failures.”
The truly beautiful thing about you is the way you never let your failures get you down – at least, not for long.
Remember that time you fell face down in the mud?
You came back stronger than before. You remembered that, as the proverb goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” and that, as Epictetus would say, “No great thing is created suddenly.”
You let your “failures” carve out your person like the insides of a canyon wall, creating something majestic and wondrous and breathtakingly beautiful. Instead of succumbing, you let them forge you into a person of strength and of character, humility and grace.
You aren’t one to be stopped – oh no, not you. You may have had failures in one sense of the word, but in another sense, you’ve always won. You’ve won because you failed to give up and you failed to give in. You kept rowing, reinventing, learning from your defeats and pushing harder each time. Your ability to persevere astounds me, and you do it with grace every time.
You, my friend, are stronger than you know.
6. “I am powerful simply because I am ALIVE right now.”
You, Sweet Honey Child, are worthy and valuable and mighty beyond measure simply because you were born into this world – simply because you breathe – simply because you are right here, right now.
You were IT from the very instant you were born into this weird, unfathomable, joyful and painful experience called “life”: Worthy. Valuable. Magnificent. Infinitely loved.
You were IT at your highest. You were IT at your lowest. You still are IT. You are simply, purely, unquestionably, unconditionally, a ridiculously powerful human being.
It doesn’t matter who you are to others or whether you believe this to be true. It doesn’t matter what you look like, where you live, or what you’ve done in the past. It doesn’t matter what anybody else tells you (or what you tell yourself, for that matter). Look me in the eyes, Wonder Woman/Superman. You are the song in my heart, the whisper on my lips. The reason life has meaning.
You are IT!
