Being Your Best Self, A Young Adult's Guide to Conscious Living

Chapter 1: You Matter

Tell me that I matter and I will prove that

you are right.

              ~ Unknown author

On your way to becoming your best self,

before you learn anything else, you must

first believe that you matter and that you have

worth. This is crucial. This is fact. You are here.

And if you're here, you matter. You wouldn't

be here if you didn't belong here. Despite what

anyone may have told you, no one is ever a

mistake. The world wouldn't be the same without

you in it. If you weren't here, there would be a

piece missing from the world. You have a unique

energy that no one else on this planet has and

it brings the entire energy of the planet to

completion. You do make a difference.

I hope you realize this already, but if you don't,

you MUST believe this. If you don't, is it because

you're afraid to matter? When you believe that

you matter, responsibility comes with that

realization. People may want your opinion about

things, they may expect you to be someone who

you don't believe you can be. Don't be afraid. If

people ask your opinion, it's because they think it

has value. If they expect you to act in a responsible

way, it's because they believe that you are capable

of that behavior.

One day I was putting a puzzle together with

one of my grandchildren. We worked for over

an hour and finally got to the last corner of the

picture. The last piece of the puzzle was missing

from the box. The empty space was directly in the

center of the picture. We searched and searched,

but couldn't find it anywhere. My grandson looked

up at me and said, "Oh well, we ALMOST finished

it." I was glad that he could stop the activity and

walk away unaffected, but it bothered me to

no end. We had worked for so long and all of it

was in vain. A puzzle is never "almost" finished.

A puzzle is only a puzzle when the picture has

been completed, when every single piece is

present, linked to its neighbors. That missing

piece unwittingly stole the entire essence of the

activity.

You are that puzzle piece. You may have

brothers and sisters, friends, classmates and

teammates whom you think could take your

place if you weren't here. But none of them are