Unique Brush Strokes

"Don't let other people's praise get to your head. Don't let other people's criticism get to your heart." (Took creative liberty to paraphrase something I read recently).

Easier said than done, I know. Often we seek external validation and we fail to see that we are already enough and that we are able. We tend to look outward for signs to be convinced of our abilities and for someone else to put a checkmark to say 'yes' or 'no' before we believe, before we try, before we do ...and before we can be convinced that we too belong.

We are affected by how we are perceived by others and their very thoughts permeate our consciousness and our very existence. We believe we can or cannot, because of what someone else says. Their version of the truth and their perception becoming yours to a point where you no longer feel capable of trusting yourself and believing in your abilities.

I know all too well this struggle. Yet, I am learning that process of trusting more in my own worth and taking back the power, I so freely gave to others. We try to change that special touch that was meant to create uniqueness in all of us. We work hard to conform because it is expected and it often gets too lonely to not only dare to be unique but to fully embrace it.

It is about time that I recognise I was meant to be ink flowing from a pen. I was meant to create with my unique brush strokes, even if I come with many rewrites. I was never meant to be a carbon copy.