Seeing Life Through Maggie’s Eyes: On Celebrating Your Uniqueness

Remember when you were young?

I was too homely, too shy, too small, too slow, too stupid, too insecure, too unsure, and I wanted to be like Peter, John, Troy, Steve, Jeffrey, Tom, Carl, Frank, well, in truth, just about every damned boy in my class at school, and just about every damned boy I saw out in public.

I was never going to be smart enough to do well in college, never going to be smooth enough to get a date, never going to be funny enough to have many friends, never going to be successful enough to have a decent career, never, never, and more never.

I suspect many children feel the same way. Childhood is, after all, a time for us to learn, to stumble, to bumble, and to fumble, and somehow navigate our way through those treacherous years and gain a measure of self-respect.

I, however, did not.  Into my teen years I went, into my early adulthood I went, and the self-loathing and insecurity went right along with me. I was not good enough, plain and simple, and I would bet whatever money I currently have on this fact: being in the foster system, as a young child, left a wound on my psyche which only deepened with time. I grew up believing I was unwanted, unworthy, and not loveable.

Can anyone out there relate?

Here’s what I know now, at the wise old age of seventy-five.

Maggie, my Northwest Farm Terrier, just is.  She is not weighted down by a brain like mine. She does not ponder the what-ifs of life, does not question her worthiness, does not wonder what is wrong to her.  To Maggie’s way of thinking, she is simply Maggie.  She knows her owner, me, loves her. She knows she will have food to eat, water to drink, and a warm place to sleep.  She smiles, I swear to the gods, she smiles, when it is time for a walk, and her tail never stops wagging when I look at her.  She knows I adore her, knows, instinctively, that she gives me what I need, has no clue what the future holds and is fine with that, and is perfectly comfortable in her own skin.

She is one of a kind, my Maggie girl, truly unique, I know that on an intellectual level, I know that on a level of the heart, and that is the lesson she taught me recently during one of my coherent moments when I was teachable.

Consider this, if you will.  In the history of mankind, there have been, approximately, 120 billion people.  And of all those people, spanning what, 192,000 years, there has never been someone exactly like me.

Stop and let that sink in for a moment because I think it is a fascinating fact.

I am . . . you are . . . completely unique in the history of the world. Talk about a reason to celebrate.  I am rarer than gold, rarer than diamonds, rarer than any other precious metals or historical artifacts. There is only one of me, there has only been one of me, and there will only be one of me, making me the most rare “commodity” on Earth.  The value of gold rises as the supply diminishes, so what does that say about my value?

Priceless!

I am a priceless wonder!

And yet, what have I concentrated on for far too many decades?

What others have that I don’t have.

It is madness and, for me, that madness has ended.

For sure, some of you are saying, right now, “I understand what you are saying, but my ‘one of a kind’ isn’t too damned special,” and to those of you thinking that, I say simply, make it special.  You have the same basic skills every other human has.  You have a mind, a voice, a free-will . . . if you do not think much of your life, change the damned thing.  You are not some amoeba being tossed around by the waves of fate. For the love of the gods, take control of your life and make it special . . . make you special.

You have greatness in you. I truly believe that, and the day you believe it is the day you will start the road to great success.

And the first step to success . . . Step #1 to greatness . . . is to be a good human being.

And it begins today!

If you truly want it to.

Sit down and write out a goal, a mission statement, some quality you want, and then focus your life on that goal, mission statement, quality.  Become one with that mission statement.  And any obstacle, any person, which attempts to delay you, obstruct you, or discourage you, say these words: I am the Gatekeeper of my life, and only the positive shall pass through my gate.

Get started!  You have work to do, you are a precious, one-of-a-kind miracle.