"Vulnerability is our most accurate measurement of courage.” (Brené Brown)
you think you oughta wait, ya know--until you're perfect, until you've got it together--before you head into the arena of risk we call life. so you build walls and watchtowers where you sit pretty with your binoculars, watching the compelling drama of life, imagining yourself in it, but not letting anyone get too close, lest they see through you. your heart even begins to to palpitate and spread fire and adrenaline through your body as you see something or someone you want to respond to, a situation that calls your name. some small part of you is convinced even, that this very door of opportunity is meant for you.
but a vicious enemy has crept into your thoughts with a poison dart the minute you begin to move, "why are you even thinking of this? you're not enough. you're too fat. you're too weak. you'll never amount to more than your parents did. think of where you come from, why would they take you? they'll laugh at you." and thus you find the carpet swept out from under you with your first step, tossing you flat on your back, with a deep shame for even having wanted to try. you're pinned to the floor with an excruciating pain, afraid you are doomed to be disconnected and alone.
let me tell ya something, though. we don't need more photo-shopped princesses and cutout heroes trying to maintain a status quo that is based on greed and appearances anyway. we need people who are real. ya know, the sort who are gentle and kind with others because they are that way with themselves in all their imperfections. the disappointments, glorious wins, lost loves and twinkles in children's eyes, bankruptcies, cancer, first homes, challenges, salient summer days, moments of joy and weakness--they live it all with a sense of gratitude for the immense scope of human experience.
we don't look down on them because they don't succeed, but we admire them, because they keep going. so i wanna see you in the arena, because you belong there, my friend. i wanna see you try. i don't care if you made poor choices in the past, or whether you keep falling with the same struggle, the same lie. you can fail and you will fail. but don't stay down. stand up, lift your head, wipe the blood from you face, and look around.
you'll see me right in there next to you--just as imperfect, just as scared--saying, "oh, yeah? me too."
you think you oughta wait, ya know--until you're perfect, until you've got it together--before you head into the arena of risk we call life. so you build walls and watchtowers where you sit pretty with your binoculars, watching the compelling drama of life, imagining yourself in it, but not letting anyone get too close, lest they see through you. your heart even begins to to palpitate and spread fire and adrenaline through your body as you see something or someone you want to respond to, a situation that calls your name. some small part of you is convinced even, that this very door of opportunity is meant for you.
but a vicious enemy has crept into your thoughts with a poison dart the minute you begin to move, "why are you even thinking of this? you're not enough. you're too fat. you're too weak. you'll never amount to more than your parents did. think of where you come from, why would they take you? they'll laugh at you." and thus you find the carpet swept out from under you with your first step, tossing you flat on your back, with a deep shame for even having wanted to try. you're pinned to the floor with an excruciating pain, afraid you are doomed to be disconnected and alone.
let me tell ya something, though. we don't need more photo-shopped princesses and cutout heroes trying to maintain a status quo that is based on greed and appearances anyway. we need people who are real. ya know, the sort who are gentle and kind with others because they are that way with themselves in all their imperfections. the disappointments, glorious wins, lost loves and twinkles in children's eyes, bankruptcies, cancer, first homes, challenges, salient summer days, moments of joy and weakness--they live it all with a sense of gratitude for the immense scope of human experience.
we don't look down on them because they don't succeed, but we admire them, because they keep going. so i wanna see you in the arena, because you belong there, my friend. i wanna see you try. i don't care if you made poor choices in the past, or whether you keep falling with the same struggle, the same lie. you can fail and you will fail. but don't stay down. stand up, lift your head, wipe the blood from you face, and look around.
you'll see me right in there next to you--just as imperfect, just as scared--saying, "oh, yeah? me too."
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