What are you keeping from the world?

 I wasn't born to fit in. 

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I don't believe any of us were put here to be lemmings. 

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Still, I spent most of my life feeling mediocre - I wasn't "good enough" at any ONE thing that I could be "the best," so I settled for being "average" in any variety of circumstances. And every time I like I failed, I packed up that part of myself and hid it.

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Sure I was lumped in with the "smart kids," but I wasn't the smartest. I tried music and performing arts, and actually excelled at it, but I didn't get picked for a leading role in the high school play. I learned I had a passion for writing and was encouraged to explore that, but I didn't make the cut into an advanced creative writing class at NYU. I failed the bar exam twice. As a lawyer, I didn't get promoted within what I considered to be a reasonable time frame. 

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I let myself believe the LIES that I was failing on the first strike.. 

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But here's what I've learned: what makes ME unique is that I'm a compilation of all these incredible attributes. 

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Being on stage has taught me how to be confident in presenting training which I've been honored to do for my team. 

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Being knocked down has taught me how to be a fighter and get back up. 

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Connecting with my writing skills helps me reach the people who are meant to hear my message. 

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And I am PROUD of all of my parts. Even as I sat down to write this, and realize I ended up nowhere near where I set out to go, I celebrate my creative spirit and the way I believe the message moves through me. 

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I send up gratitude for giving me the tools to share it ❤️. 

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If this is you, all I ask is that you pick up something about yourself that you gave up on - and connect with it. Take a step towards making friends with the parts of yourself you put aside. And when you celebrate that - please share it.  ❤️ Thank you 🙏