Look at What You Have Become
This picture was sent to me the other day from one of my best friends from business school. It was taken when we were at the Kellogg School of Management – I was in my twenties. When you look back do you see what you have become?
I have to admit that when I first looked at the picture, I thought to myself, Oh my gosh, I’m so much thinner in this photo! I looked so much better back then!
I think that’s a common response that so many of us have when we look at pictures of our younger selves.
I woke up the next morning and looked at the picture again.
I looked at my face in that picture and saw a young and vibrant woman – but a woman who also lacked confidence and wisdom.
I thought back to that moment in my life. I remember feeling so uncertain about the future.
I was in a relationship that I wasn’t sure of at the time and that eventually ended. I was so scared that I wasn’t going to get my chance in the world, that I wasn’t going to be able to step into my mission, that I was never going to get a job.
I was younger than everyone else in business school. I was happy in so many ways, but I was also so insecure.
When I look in the mirror today, I see a much different person – someone who is connected, alive, and confident in who she is today.
Someone who isn’t afraid to use all her gifts – including her spiritual ones. Someone who has come a long way from the paralyzing fear that used to overtake her before every live event.
It was a huge reminder to me that, as women, we tend to have such negative voices in our heads.
When we look at ourselves in the mirror, we look at our size, the scars on our bodies, the wrinkles on our faces. We judge ourselves based on the images of the 20-year old in our heads or the photos in glossy magazines and social media campaigns.
The truth is that we need to be judging ourselves on so much more than just those physical changes.
Because our years of being on the planet have made us wise. They have made us strong. We have earned the ability to give really good advice and be totally there for ourselves, for our family, and for our friends.
As entrepreneurs, we make the harder choice every day. We do things that we don’t know how to do every day.
We are forced to pick ourselves up and start again, even when we’ve faced rejection and disappointment. Many of us are operating from an isolated place in the sense that we work alone – and yet, we keep going.
So I think that one of the most important gifts that we can give ourselves as entrepreneurs is this – that when we look in the mirror, we see who we have become.
Not who we used to be, but who we are NOW.
We OWN the hard work that has made us smarter.
We OWN the decisions that we’ve made, especially the hard ones.
And we own the fact that we are choosing every day to step into our mission, even though it’s lonely, even though it requires learning new things every day, and even though we sometimes face rejection.
So the next time you look at yourself in the mirror (or find yourself reminiscing over an old photo), remember these words: you are wise, you are strong, you are amazing.
Look at what you have become.
