Confidence

“If I were you, I’d want to be me too”.... My daughter used to sing this song by Meagan Trainor loud and proud with her sassy dance moves.  

Ever since she was little she’s always had a gift of inner confidence, not in a braggy way, but in a “I’m so coolit’s great to be me!” way. I love that about her and have often worried perhaps she may grow out of it.  

For the past few months she began the countdown of getting her braces off, which she believed was going to be a notorious day, right up there with Independence Day, and everyone would want to be there.  

Knowing she has a chipped front tooth from a shovel-to-the-face-accident performed by her older sister when they were little and building a snow fort, I was worried her delight in the removal of her braces would be overshadowed by a big reveal of the front tooth filling in need of repair.  

I braced myself for her reaction to her new smile.

Much to my surprise, and delight, she took a look at herself in the mirror and exclaimed with glee her newly enhanced beauty! She seemed to completely neglect to see the cracked front tooth, that was frankly hard to miss, but not to her.

Those pearly whites, finally set free, were all she seemed to see; the fulfillment of her teeth-goddess dreams and she couldn’t wait to show them off.

So what does this have to do with you and me?  

Well, how would you act differently if you didn’t notice the cracks and had the confidence to see only your beauty?  I dare say you’d be more bold, more happy, show up more and do more to live out your dreams.

We all have cracks, we are imperfect, and that’s ok.  

In fact, that’s good! We are all imperfectly perfect, having a very real-life experience where we have the opportunity to grow through trials and adversity as we learn to embrace the challenges of life.  

At the same time, we can learn to navigate life more bravely, with courage and hope, being our true selves if we could just cultivate the confidence to do so!