“You are beautiful!” by Anna Huthmaker

In the hallway of my house, I have giant pieces of paper tacked up on the wall with a bag full of sharpies. Anytime I learn something, have a brilliant thought, or come up with a goal worth pursuing, I write it on the wall. Things like, “do the hard work, and then detach”, and ‘Does this feed my spirit?”

Each one means something personal to me.

You see, this past fall has been kind of a rough one. I have no good reason to say that…..my friends and family are all happy and healthy, as am I. Life is really, really good.

But, still……

Do you ever go through those times where you know you just need to grow? You need to suck it up, do the hard work and learn something? After six months of vacillating between feeling like I was metaphorically stuck in cement, and spiritual highs where I thought “I am getting it…I am finally getting it!!!”, I have firmly landed in a place of wanting to be better.

My wall plays a huge part in that.

A few weeks ago, I went through a few days of, “Woe is me….I am ugly…I am not good enough…I have nothing worthwhile to offer.” You know the feeling, right? We all have it from time to time.

I was walking down my hall and a slash of orange writing spread across the top of my wall caught my eye. It said, “You are beautiful!”(With a few hearts drawn in for good measure.)

I didn’t write that on my wall.

I am not really sure who wrote it, or when they wrote it. As I stood there, I thought, ‘someone out there thinks that I am beautiful. Someone cares enough to take the time to write it on my wall, (and to include some hearts for good measure.)”

My heart filled with love and gratitude. What a great gift!! From here on out, anytime I don’t feel beautiful, I can just go look at my wall. There is proof positive.

And then, I got to thinking…. I know a lot of people that are really, really beautiful. And I bet that they have days from time to time where they just can’t see it. It made me want to go through life with a shirt that says in giant letters “YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!!”

Since I can’t do that, I will start with this…..Dames, you are beautiful.

Each and every one of you.

You teach me all year long about strength, friendship, humor, love, commitment, and determination.

And yes, beauty.

So the next time you are having one of those days where you doubt yourself, and think that you have nothing to give, here is a gift, from my wall to yours……