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All your life you've practiced, practiced, practiced and then just to be certain, you practice some more. Then there comes the day that you finally realize that there is really only one more thing left to do, step on that stage and give the finest performance your soul has to offer.
Cheers to you stepping on the stage of life and never being afraid to shine bright, bright, bright, and then brighter still!
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
There are those days that I feel like hiding. Crawling into a bag of rice and trying to forget how much I don’t fit in here.Here, I always feel as though I am on stage, and the spotlight is shining so brightly it blinds my eyes.I am the only foreigner in the mist of thousands of people, and there is no hiding my difference. No clothes that I can wear, no makeup that I can slather on, no dye to tint my hair or iron to straighten it.I am different.Yet, I chose this world, a place where I am completely conspicuous. I breathe, heads turn. I fear what will happen when I dare sneeze!People here worry whether I can preform simple physical tasks or fret about my health because I don’t eat a mountain of white rice every time I sit down at the table.At times, the peoples fascination with the color of my skin or hair annoys me. I didn’t do anything but be born to get them. They aren’t me.Why do people give me more respect because of them? Why do they ask me to speak in their churches or celebrations because of the color of my eyes?Their color does not indicate wisdom or mean that I should be respected or privileged above others. I’m 23 (well almost 24, NOV 3, ::cough::presents, people?::cough::). There are plenty of people here much wiser than I. My light eyes are no more beautiful or wise than dark ones, but no one seems to believe me.I dislike this inequality. It goes against all the values that were pounded in my head from the age of 2.5 months.Yet these same discriminatory people also look at me and smile and welcome me into their homes for no reason. They feed me, visit me, let me practice their language with them, wave at me and give me an odd amount of awe and respect.I’m learning to take the good with the bad, and to use my situation for the best. If I have to be on stage, then I might as well have fun, right?Though most importantly, if they do respect me then I’ve got to understand this precious gift and use it empower them by letting them know that I think that they are beautiful and smart and can do whatever they are determined to do and be confident., Never hiding from the world.Because when you hide from life, you’re only doing so out of fear. Fear is such a nasty little captain of life. It squashes you and your potential for greatness, hurts people around you and drains all of the brilliant colors out of life’s rainbows.And I’ve decided no more hiding for me either! I’m crawling out of this rice sack, putting on my brightest dress and curling my hair Afro style. It’s time to shine, people. It’s time to laugh, sneeze, fart, burp, fall in the mud, relax and enjoying my lovely audience.