So much of who you are in this world, what handprint you will leave, depends on who you allow into your life. The people you allow to see you at your lowest of lows and your highest of highs. The people that shape our lives have huge impacts on the person we once were yesterday, the person we are today, and the person we will be tomorrow. I'm telling you to be careful. Be kind to yourself and take a look around at who is standing by you.
You may just find that some of those people are the reason you question your worth. And let me tell you, your value is not found in other people. Your value is not found in what someone else thinks of you. Your value is not found in the number of likes on Facebook you get. Your value is not found on how good your Instagram pictures are, or how many people commented on your latest post. The numbers on your social media page do not account for how incredibly cool you are. Neither do those people in the pictures on your Instagram.
How they impact you, how those people help mold your heart, how they help you do good for the world, now that is important. See if we're surrounding ourselves with people who feed a constant line of negativity into our lives, we will become negative ourselves. If we surround ourselves with people who go against our core values, then we begin to forget who we are. I'm not saying that the people in your life aren't important, but rather it's not about what they look like or what clothes they wear, how good they make your social media look or your reputation seem. It's about the relationships that you build with them; it's about how they add joy to your life.
And see there is something so beautiful in the idea that all of the people you have crossed paths with have led you to who you are, and where you are today. In high school, I read Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson for the first time, and I can remember the line "I am a part of all that I have met." I have carried those words with me since.
We weren't meant to live life alone. We were meant to be social, loving, and dependent beings. The people in your life should add a little magic into the everyday. They should help you be extraordinary. They should help you be good, feel good, and do good for the world. Surround yourself with people who make you better, not people who make you question if you're good enough.
So go out and find your tribe. A tribe that doesn't care about what you look like. A tribe that hypes you up on your Instagram. A tribe that is there to remind you of who you are when you don't feel like yourself. A tribe that will stand with you against the world. A tribe that sees greatness in you, when you just feel ordinary.
