You are Beautiful

I was walking out of the courthouse on Tuesday after a long day. I had been running on 3 hours of sleep after a night shift to get my number called at jury duty to go sit in the courtroom to be placed on a jury. My attitude was sour to say the least. I had the most pathetic "I'm tired don't talk to me" faces you have ever seen and thought maybe if I looked pathetic enough the judge wouldn't pick me to be on the jury. Then I learn that the lady next to me has a foster child in the hospital with pneumonia and a husband with Parkinsons...that sure put my complaining into perspective.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I was not selected to be on the jury and was able to leave the courtroom by 1 as opposed to 5. Walking out, I leaned over the railing as I sent a message to my husband to please come pick me up, when a younger man walked up the stairs and around behind me on his way to wherever he was going. I was paying very little attention to what was going on around me when I heard him say, "you're beautiful". Not in a creepy, stalker-ish kind of way, but a polite, genuine compliment. He kept walking.

I was taken a back for a minute. 1. I had rolled out of bed, hair unwashed, threw it up in a bun with a headband, had on a big comfy sweatshirt and my super comfy and warm workout leggings. I was a mess to say the least. On top of that I hadn't been feeling great about myself that day. I had bags under my eyes, hadn't slept more than 6 hours in 2 days, hadn't made it to the gym in over 3 days, and was running off of coffee. Needless to say I was not feeling great about myself. 

His comment made me stop...

I am beautiful. Not for what I wear, what I look like, how tall, short, slim or stalky I am, but because I am a child of God. This statement brightened my day but also made me realize how important that affirmation is in our society. It is the quality of our character and the genuinity of our hearts that defines beauty, contrary to what media and society tell us today.

So remember that you are beautiful for being you. There is no one else like you. Embrace who you are and let your true self radiate. 

And don't forget to tell others that they are beautiful. We all need that reminder sometimes.

“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, 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 enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. 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 everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

-Marianne Williamson