“If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.” – Maya Angelou
Look around you. Each and every day, you encounter thousands of faces. Some may be familiar, and others may be complete strangers. You may see some again in the future, and you may never see others again. These faces are not all like yours. You are your own unique entity, and so is each of them. Some faces will smile at you; others will glare; and, some may look at you with sadness in their eyes. Each of these faces has a reason for how it looks, and each of the souls behind them has a reason for how it feels.
It was once said that “people will remember you for how you make them feel,” and this is true for everyone. No matter what faces you encounter each day, they will make you feel something. Whether the feeling is unfamiliar or all too familiar to you, you will remember the faces that changed your perspective, and the faces that made you stop and think about your life. The most memorable faces are the ones that introduce something new to you. Whether it be a different style, a different laugh, or a different set of beliefs. Whatever is different about the faces you encounter is what will stick with you forever.
Do you ever wonder if one gesture, one facial expression, or one sentence changed the way that someone you interacted with felt? I do. I wonder if smiling at a sad girl uplifts her. I wonder if helping someone up when they’ve fallen makes their burden feel a little bit lighter. I wonder if a random act of kindness, whether seconds or hours long, changes the shade of the lens through which the person I’ve helped sees the world. Though there is no way of proving it, I believe that all of these things truly do impact peoples’ lives.
Each and every person, no matter how different they may be from you, deserves to be loved. They deserve to know that they have something to share with the world that is uniquely theirs, and that nothing can take that away from them. They deserve to know that being themselves is what makes them special, and that being “normal” has a different definition for every person you ask.
Don’t hold back. Smile at not five or 10 people who you see each day, but at all of the people who look your way. You are amazing, and the people you share that smile with can see that. Maybe when they can’t help but instinctively smile back, they will realize just exactly how amazing they can be, too.