What I wish I knew back then

This evening, I came to a sudden realization. Kind of a personal realization, but nonetheless most likely will pertain to many in this world, so let me share with you.

I will start with me, at least the person who I used to be.

As long as I can remember, I have never accepted myself for who I am. I never thought I was smart, pretty, funny, outgoing, ect.ect.ect. I just thought I was plain old me. And more often then not, I hated that plain old me. I had beautiful, amazing, brilliant friends who surrounded me and I never thought I could be like them. At times, I refused to hang out with them because I was embarassed that they would be seen with someone like me.

But that was then. This is now.

Being raised in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and have gone through 6 years of the Young Women program, it is not until a year and a half later that I am starting to learn what they were trying to teach me all of those 6 years.

and that is... Divine Nature and Individual Worth

I guess it wasn't necessarily a "sudden realization" that I had this evening, but rather a lesson that I have slowly been learning for the past few months. A lesson valuable beyond measure.



"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?" Actually, who are you not to be. You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightnened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. When we let our own light shine, we unconsiously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." (Nelson Mandela in his 1994 Inagural Speech)

Ahhhh. I just LOVE that quote. And every single line is truth. After learning how incredible it truly is to call ourselves children of God, is when I started to realize the importance of every individual. We are capable of such wonderful things but we make it extremley hard on ourselves to accomplish those wonderful things when we don't even believe in who we are and fully comprehend who's we are: children of a Heavenly King.

I feel that I have been liberated from my own fear. My fear of never being good enough for anyone or anything. The confidence that I now have in myself feels incredible and when I see others who I know feel like I used to feel, I just want to give them all of my new found knowledge. Give them that faith, confidence, and light. Because everyone deserves to know who they are and who's they are.

"If you could envision the type of person God intended you to be, you would rise up and never be the same again."