The truth is that what you are is the true gift. You – your true self – is the gift. So, in any room you enter, let it be that you bring your true self, the beauty that resides within you.
Have you ever wondered whether you had anything to offer? Ever entered a room where you thought you didn’t have anything to really bring? Whether it was at work, at school, or at some event, you just looked around and suddenly felt as though you came empty-handed.
As a high school kid, I’d sit in classrooms, slouched in the back row, shrinking next to the students with hands raised. They always seemed to have just the right answer and say it in just the right way. I’d hide from any spotlight that would highlight the many flaws I felt I had. Although I was always studious, I put on a façade to make sure no one noticed that I, too, enjoyed reading, learning, and writing.
In my youth I thought what I had wasn’t good enough. Like I wasn’t smart enough, gifted enough, pretty enough.
It wasn’t until I entered a poetry community years later that I found what I held within was good and worthy of being seen. As a performance poet, I was finally able to stand on a stage in the spotlight and share my gift to an audience who would listen and applaud me. And in that moment, I finally felt that the gift I had inside me mattered and was worthy of some limelight.
I give this back story because sometimes we take stories from our youth with us into adulthood. And although we’d like to bury those thoughts and feelings beneath the appearance of our roles and responsibilities, the truth is that these feelings and thoughts still creep up inside us from time to time.
We all have gifts inside us – precious gifts that make us unique and add to our beauty as women. It’s easy to look around and see others as more gifted or talented – because we don’t see from the outside looking in. But sometimes it is good to look in the mirror and notice that what you bring is just as valuable.
So now I’ll ask – is there a gift, talent or trait that you are hiding? What is that thing that you feel makes you different? It may be that very thing that you feel makes you different, that is your gift and even your purpose.
You may walk into certain rooms and feel as though you don’t have anything to offer, or like what you have is not good enough, but I encourage you (and myself) to believe that you do have a gift to share.
Whatever that gift is, I hope you recognize its beauty and begin to share it with the world.
Three things I have learned/am learning about the beauty of gifts only we can bring:
1. There is beauty in uniqueness
The reason I believe we hide our gifts and unique traits is that they are different from those of others. But you can be different and be okay with that. All of us are unique in our own ways – so we might as well accept it. Find what is beautiful about that gift/trait and, rather than shun it, embrace it.
2. See your gift(s) as something that can contribute to the world
Although poetry may seem insignificant to some, as a poet, I believe it is something that can inspire, teach, and even change another person. I have seen with my own eyes how words and stories can touch people in ways that nothing else can. Your gift may be different than mine, but I am sure there is something in it that has the potential to give to the world.
3. The gift really is you
Just because you may not be what anyone would see as talented or gifted, doesn’t mean we don’t have anything to offer. The truth is that what you are is the true gift. You – your true self – is the gift. So in any room you enter, let it be that you bring your true self, the beauty that resides within you.