Dear You: Raise your voice. Or don’t.
I’ll be honest: motivational/inspirational quotes make my eyes roll back so far I can practically see my brain. But I do appreciate authentic encouragement. And in this world, in this current atmosphere, there’s a lot of negativity and frustration. If you’re craving a moment of honest encouragement, this is to you, from me.
Dear You,
Holy potatoes, there’s a lot of yelling these days, isn’t there? People are angry—some understandably frustrated, some just filled with hate. They’re yelling at people for what they do and what they don’t do, for speaking up and for staying silent. And in the midst of all that noise and chaos, it can be difficult to figure out your place in a world of a thousand loud opinions, all of them drowning out your own thoughts.
But you do have a place, a purpose. There’s a space in this intense, noisy world only you can fill, a contribution only you, with your unique mix of skills, can offer. Maybe you don’t know yet what that contribution could be or even what those skills are. Whether you’re fifteen or fifty, there’s no shame in still trying to figure things out.
It’s okay if you don’t wage wars on Twitter. And there’s great beauty in not sharing long Facebook posts about your opinions. But if you feel compelled to address an issue close to you, that’s awesome too. It’s your choice. It belongs to you and no one else.
Your worth is not measured by how much you engage or disengage. The strength of your voice is not dependent on how loudly you can yell but by the ideas you express and the methods you choose for sharing. Sometimes a whisper at the right moment can be more powerful than a hundred people screaming. Sometimes the greatest impact you can make is not by influencing crowds but by investing in one person.
But you can’t know your purpose without knowing who you are. And you can’t know who you are until you believe that you matter.
You. Matter.
Your life, the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly, is an incredible opportunity that was handed to you. You didn’t ask for or earn your existence, but here you are. You have changed the world simply by existing. How you make an impact beyond that, well, it’s up to you.
And that is a wonderful thing.
