let love define you

Life is full of noise. There are voices screaming at you from every direction. Parents. Siblings. Friends. Teachers. Professors. Media. Politicians. Even perfect strangers. Your local Starbucks barista. They all have an opinion and they all want to impose it on you. They all want to tell you who you are. How do you even begin to discern which one is true?

People expect you to have the perfect personality. Not too loud. Not too quiet. Not too nerdy. You have to like the right things, do the right things, be the right thing. If you don't fit the mold, more often than not, people will reject you. They want to tell you who to be.

The media says you have to look a certain way to be beautiful. Perfect hair, perfect teeth, tall, skinny, dark. If you don't fit the mold, the world labels you as “Ugly”, or “Average.” My literature professor said to my class this summer, “You know those beautiful people that know they are beautiful and make you feel it? Nobody in this room has to worry about that, we're all average and moderately attractive, but I wouldn't say there's any really beautiful people in this room.”

Labels. Everyone wants to put them on you. But how do we go from letting other people define who we are to simply knowing who we are and sticking to it?

Every single person you come in contact with will leave a fingerprint on your life. Whether good or bad, positive or negative, your life is covered with the fingerprints of others. You can't control who comes and goes in and out of your life, the impact they will make on you, but you can control how you respond to them. Don't let them tell you who you are.

Look at your hand. Notice your fingerprints. Not one of them is the same. And not one other person out of the 7.5 Billion people on the earth have your fingerprints. You are unique. You are one of a kind. There never has been, there is not, and there will never be anybody quite like you.

If you are the only you, then how can you let other people tell you who you are? They don't know you like you know you.

Your story is unique. Your story is beautiful. You are beautiful. Let LOVE define who you are. Love who you are. Live out your life. Don't try to be someone else. When you can simply be you, just you, no one else, you will find freedom to enjoy each and every day. You can't fail at being you.

No person, situation, indecent, accident, or circumstance has the right to define you. Love, alone, defines you.

You are not an accident. You are a gift. Your life is a gift. The world would not be the same without you. You have purpose. There is freedom and joy in being able to just simply be you. You are enough.