I see you
You are brilliant.
I mean, amazing. There are things that you do that no one else can do like you do (YOU know what they are). No matter how you feel about it, it's true.
You tuck your brilliance away for a variety of reasons.
So you don't make other people feel bad about themselves. Or, so people will like you and won't leave you. Or, to be modest - a good girl. Or whatever your reason is. At it's core, when we don't own our value - it's an omission of the truth.
A lie we tell ourselves, that erodes our sense of worth.
It's so much easier to trot out the places we are seemingly broken and the countless ways we fall down or fail - to apologize endlessly for being human, to use it as an excuse to forget how utterly and completely magical and powerful we really, truly are.
I remember distinctly the first time I did it.
I had entered a science fair in second grade and I did a completely bad-ass 3-D research project on great white sharks. It was awesome (I even had REAL SHARK TEETH!!!). I won 2nd Place. And the kids in my class teased me about being a geeky smart girl. A ribbon-winner.
I was horrified.
I started calling attention to all the ways that I wasn't so great. To level the playing field. To equalize.
Directing others away from my intellect, my curiosity, my insight, and my love of sharks, so people wouldn't notice.
The problem with this strategy was, I forgot. I was so busy protecting my gifts with decoys so I wouldn't make other people feel bad, or so people would love me, that I. Forgot.
But in the end, the forgetting is as it should be.
To really stand in the light of our own powerful nature, we have to be tempered.
There will be criticism. There will be people who will leave. There will be failures and stumblings and accusations. There will be plenty of moments of uncertainty. Your comfort with, and acceptance of your humanity will fuel your courage - will help you show the world how it's done.
You are whole and the tender, broken parts are an invitation to the people you are here to serve. Owning the gifts of your brokenness, and being able to embrace the deep well of your entire experience, will help you withstand the fire of standing in your greatness.
In the end, your brilliance and your humanness are one and the same.
Your internal yin and yang are so damn valuable. Immeasurable, really. Your brilliance is waiting to join your failures, center-stage. Stop apologizing, stop hiding.
Show us everything you've got.