On confidence.

This is a quote from actress Gabourney Sidibe, on where she gets her confidence:

"It came from me. One day I decided that I was beautiful, and so I carried out my life as if I was a beautiful girl. I wear colors that I really like, I wear makeup that makes me feel pretty, and it really helps. It doesn’t have anything to do with how the world perceives you. What matters is what you see."

I haven't seen Precious. I had no idea who Gabourney Sidibe was until I saw her at the awards shows. I still don't know anything about her, and really have no opinion of her.

Beauty is subjective, but only to a point. Excellence can be defined by many things, but I'll bet we can all roughly agree on which people excel in their fields. Talent is fairly easily recognized; you can only fake it so much. The hard truth is, we are not all model-gorgeous, we cannot all win Nobel prizes, and we aren't always going to be great at what we want to do, no matter how hard we try.

But. Does it matter? Even if the best we can be is far from the best, it is still OUR best. Shouldn't we treat ourselves with as much love and respect as we lavish on the beautiful, successful, and talented? 

So wear your 'special-occasion' outfit. Break out the company-only cutlery and stemware. Spend an extra 5 minutes perfecting your hairstyle or lipstick or whatever. Why not? You just might end up feeling lovelier, acting cleverer, being kinder. 

No one can rob you of these feelings. Only you can allow them to be taken.

Thanks, Gabourney.