Valuable & Worthy

A while back, I read an inspiring story shared from a conference... Unfortunately, I could not find the title or name of the speaker... but I thought it was worth sharing nonetheless. (Please comment if you know anything about the original!) 

The speaker started his presentation with holding up a $20 bill. In a room of 200, he asked “Who would like this $20 bill? Raise your hand.” 

As you would expect, hands started going up. He said “Okay, I am going to give one of you this $20 bill - but first, let me do this.” He crumpled the bill up and asked again “Who still wants it?” Hands went up again. Then he asked “Well, what if I do this?” and he dropped the bill on the ground and stepped on it, grinding the bill on the floor with his shoe. He picked up the crumpled and dirty bill and asked once again “Who still wants it?” The same hands went up a third time.

Then he said “My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to this $20 bill, you all still wanted it. No matter what state it was it, you all still recognized its value. No matter how crumpled or dirty it became it’s worth never decreased... it was and still is worth $20. Now how much more worthy are we as humans?

Many times in our lives we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt. Decisions that we make bring us down, circumstances that come our way can make us feel worthless, and failed relationships or heartbreak may make us think we no longer have value. We find ourselves truly believing that after all we've gone through and what we've done, we do not have the same worth we once had... but that just isn't true! Just like that crumpled and dirty $20 bill, our worth does not change and we are still valuable - no matter what happens! We are and always will be worth dying for, worth treasuring, worth being invested in and we have to surround ourselves with people that will believe in us. The people around us should be constant reminders that we are worthy of love and friendship.

You know what the best part is? YOUR inability to see your worth does not mean it's not there. I know that sometimes that hardest thing to do is look in the mirror and love what you see, whether it be your physical self or emotionally - it is not easy. I still work hard every day to acknowledge my worth, to value myself, and to treasure who I am. I've learned to allow myself to trust my loved ones when they encourage me and remind me that I'm valuable... that I'm worthy of happiness, success, and love and they aren't just saying that because they "have to". Even if you aren't feeling that worthiness in your own life or have people around you to affirm how valuable you are to them - that does not mean it's not there. I don't have to know you to value you as a human being... there's someone (many people, actually) that do value you... and you have to become one of them. 

Because:

Amen to that!

Stay healthy and happy, my dears. 

~ Camila