Feel Good Friday

It is pretty shocking just how far a few nice words can go. There are times in life where we all feel unappreciated, unnoticed, inefficient, degraded, disrespected, useless, unimportant, or ignored. Sometimes it goes beyond that. Sometimes we check out. We harden our hearts so they don't get broken. We disconnect, because "what's the point?" We give up because "what's the use in trying?" We stop caring because it seems we are the only one who does. We stop trying because we have felt the pain of falling short.
We begin to give just enough because no one seems to see when we go above and beyond the call of duty. We begin to just show up because we think no one would even notice if we were gone. We begin to crawl into our shell because at least there we are safe. We begin to close our eyes in fear of what we may see.
As soon as we close our eyes we lose sight of the bigger picture. The world disappears as we try to run from it. The target begins to blur. The image gets fuzzy. The result seems dark. But then something reminds us the picture isn't developed yet. We forget we are still in the darkroom.
...Then someone opens the door and shows us the picture we have created. They remind us of our purpose. They tell us "you ARE appreciated, you DO belong, you are here for a reason, I see you."
And those words of encouragement come just in time.
And we give it another shot.
So today I am paying it forward.
YOU MATTER.
YOU BELONG.
DON'T GIVE UP.
IT'S WORTH ALL THE EFFORT.
SOMEONE NOTICES.
SOMEONE NEEDS YOU.
THERE IS A REASON FOR ALL OF THIS.
SOMEDAY YOU WILL SEE IT.
KEEP ON KEEPING ON.
JUST KEEP SWIMMING.
JUST DO IT.
JUST DO YOU AND BE YOU.
And in the words of my philosophical, hysterical, handsome, rapper of a husband, "God's got chu, guuuurl!"
       ....or guy.
Don't give up.
PS-Thanks for being there just when I needed you, with just what I needed to hear. Just do you-"forget" what they have to say.
Insert verb of choice.
You're a rockstar in my book. You know who you are.