As of 29 April 2010, the human population of the world was estimated by the United States Census Bureau to be 6,817,700,000. Annual births have levelled at about 134 million per year since their peak at 163 million in the late 1990s. Have you ever stopped to consider that among all these billions, not one person is (or was) exactly the same? 134 million new people every year and every single one of them is different, is unique. Don’t you find that amazing?
When I was younger, chubbier and the not-so-popular kid, I was oblivious to this fact. When I was rolling up my skirt at school to get attention from boys (a failed attempt by the way) I was completely unaware. When I was lying awake at night wondering why nobody seemed to like me, I don’t remember anybody telling me this. I have to tell you at this time in my life, I had a very supporting and loving family behind me, but it just goes to show how irrational just one complex can make you.
When you don’t know your value, you crave everyone’s approval, and the one disapproval catapults your confidence right out of the window. You spend years trying to adapt yourself around the latest disapproval; swearing to fit in, stealing so you can have the same things as everyone else, pretending to like things that you aren’t really into. The list is unfortunately long. It is soul destroying. You spend so much energy and time failing at trying to be someone else that you never find out who you really are. Worse still, you finally come to the conclusion that it’s not acceptable to be you and you lose the ability to be sincere, even with yourself. The problem with this though, is that late at night when you are all alone, reality sets in and those thoughts and feelings of self loathing that you manage to escape throughout your busy day, come crashing down on you hard. As a result of not loving you, you are unable to accept anybody else’s love either. You secretly hope that somebody, someday will love you for who you are (whoever that is) but the risk of someone getting that close is too risky.
Women (and men) like this, and maybe it’s you, don’t have successful relationships, are overly defensive, great pretenders and are very damaged. There are many young women who were well trained at home, who trade in their values and their individuality for what? To be approved? By who?
At a certain point in my life when I got tired of pretending, I poured out my heart to the only One I thought could possibly understand. I’d always been told he could, but every other time we had spoken I pretended everything was alright, the way it should be. This time though, I couldn’t hold myself anymore. He told me something that day, something I’ll never forget. He told me that there’s only one. He said that He’d never made anyone like me before. I was unique and that’s what made me special. That was news to me! The fact that the way I was, all the good, bad and ugly, this was okay? It was okay to be me!! I wasn’t to remain the way I was though, but I was to grow, mature and be refined, but He was going to help with that. He would help me be a better me and I was going to be something great, something that only I could be in this world.
Since that day I embraced and loved my individuality. ‘There’s only one’ is now a regular catchphrase of mine and I have found strength, satisfaction and pride in being different to those around me. True freedom starts right there inside a person. The friends I hold dear to me are some of the most different people you ever meet, but our friendship is rich because of this. The one thing we have in common for sure is our faith and because of this we respect our own and each others individuality. The result of this is great. We never have to pretend to fit in because we know who we are and we celebrate it, hence ‘The Purple Touch’ magazine!
It’s so sad to see people giving up this wonderful gift of freedom to be followers, (Note that generally, people don’t tend to feel pressured follow good and moral examples…) when Someone went through a lot of trouble to make sure that there was not one other person on the face of the earth or in history that was exactly like you. Declare your independence day today and talk to your Designer. If there are things within you that you feel are wrong, speak to your Manufacturer. God alone knows you best and how you can shine brightest as you. It will take effort, but with Him it’s possible and definitely worth it.
thepurpletouch.com 