You Deserve the Best

Transcript

Psst. Hey. Hey, you.

Yeah, I know you can hear me. Just listen for a minute, okay? Okay.

I was just thinking about it, and I wondered if anybody has told you today how great you are. No? Pfft.

Well, what is wrong with them? No, seriously. I'm a firm believer that every single person should be told at least five times a day how incredible they are.

Don't you agree? I mean, it's been proven that being told your good qualities, things that are general positives about a person, has such a positive impact on their day, their outlook on life, how they approach and handle problems, how they sleep, how they perform at work or school. So, I want to take a few minutes and just tell you how epic you are.

Can I do that? And I know that makes some people uncomfortable, and I know that because I was one of them. I've never dealt well with praise, okay? Which is weird because, hi, performer.

But the thing is, it gets easier. It does. Don't give me that.

It does. The first time you hear something really good about yourself and you don't believe it, it's like a cringe, right? Is that what it feels like? That's what it felt like for me.

But over time, the cringe gets less. It's like you become desensitized to it. And if it happens enough, and if you hear the good things enough, you start to think, hmm, maybe that person knows what they're talking about.

Maybe. Maybe. I'll give you an example, okay? The first person who ever told me I could sing that wasn't like my mom, because mom, was a teacher at school.

I was in, I want to say it was like second or third grade. And we had to take these ridiculous music classes that weren't really music classes. They used to hand us these books with weird songs in them, and we used to have to sing them.

The whole class. It was like a horrible choir nightmare. And the final test, quote unquote, at the end of the year, was everybody had to get up and pick a song out of the book and sing it in front of the class by themselves.

This is total nightmare fuel for kids who don't perform, who have any kind of shyness or anxiety. It was terrible. So I was last on the list, because she did it by random name polls.

She had this list, and she'd just kind of close her eyes and point, and then cross you off. Well, my name was pointed to at the last, like she literally landed on everybody else first, which felt really good, by the way. So I got to sit there, because this takes like days, okay, like days to do, right? Figuring that these classes are like an hour long, and there's like 30 kids, right? So I'm working on my song, and I've got my song, and again, my mom told me it was good.

Which again, mom. And I get up there, and I've got the book, and I'm shaking, like shaking, because I love to like rock out at home. And we kind of toyed with like lessons and stuff just for me, but I hadn't really, really performed yet.

Right? So I get up there, and all of these eyes are staring at you. And when you're not a popular kid, when you're a kid that people think is weird, like when they think you're the strange kid, and you're the geeky kid, and you're the too smart kid, and you're the kid that's not, like I said, popular, then that's a little disconcerting, let me tell you.

So I've got my book, and I'm standing in front of the room, and she tells me to go. And she was like one of my favorite teachers, but when it came to stuff like this, she could be really intimidating. So I couldn't even look at her.

So I sang my song, and it was a song that nobody else had picked, okay? Because there was like three or four songs that everybody did because they were easy, right? So I picked this song because I loved it.

I remember the first time we heard it, the first time we did it, and I just fell in love with it. So it was the song that I picked, and I did it. And I remember finishing and closing the book, and looking at the floor, and taking a deep breath, and like shaking because I was like, oh god, oh god, don't throw up, don't throw up, don't throw up.

And you could hear a pin drop in the room, like dead silent. And I thought, oh god, it was terrible. It was terrible.

I'm so bad. They're gonna like make so much fun of me. It was so bad.

And then they started clapping. Clapping. And the teacher came over, and she took the book from me, and she hugged me, because that was a thing back then.

And she told me how beautiful my voice was, how excellent the song was, and that she was giving me a hundred percent on the assignment because it was that good. That was the first time anybody had ever, again, besides my mom, told me that I was actually really good at singing. Like somebody who knew.

And yeah, I had done a couple of lessons, but they weren't with like actual coaches. They were just kind of like with the piano player at church kind of thing. And this person had like a degree in music and like knew what she was talking about.

I don't know why she was teaching at an elementary school, but whatever. She was really good. And that was the day.

And it was the weirdest experience, because on one hand, I wanted to be like, oh yeah, look at me go. But on the other, I was like, don't be arrogant. Don't be a jerk about this.

Don't let it go to your head. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then, of course, there's the third hand that I don't actually have that said, what? Are we talking about the same person here? Because that don't sound right.

Right? And yes, when my brain goes sideways, it tends to not have great grammar. So anyway, the point is, over time, I learned that I am actually a really good singer.

And I can say that without feeling arrogant, because I've worked my ass off at it. But it's one of those things that it just happened. But it took a lot of time and a lot of people telling me that and a lot of hard work and a lot of like mental work for me to actually be able to say that without cringing.

So I get it. That was a really long winded way of saying you'll get there. So enough about me.

Let's talk about you. Let's talk about you. So one of the things that I absolutely love about people is their good hearts.

And you have one. You just do. Own it.

Own it. Having a good heart doesn't mean you have to be freaking Mother Teresa, right? You don't have to be a martyr.

You don't have to be doing charity work 24-7 to be a good person. So do you fit the bill? Duh.

It just means you're not out there actively like hurting people, which you're not. So hi, good person. Good heart.

Good for you. It really is that simple. It really is.

What's your favorite thing to do in the world? What do you love doing above all else? What.

.. Think of a hobby or something you do to spend time. And by think of it, I mean, tell me.

Okay, so think about that. Are you good at that? Okay.

Do you think you could be better at that? Do you think you could be better at that? Okay.

Do you think that it matters? No. Because when you're doing it, whether you're good at it or not, you love doing it.

So you know what? That means that you're great at it because you love doing it. So congratulations.

You're great at the thing you love most. Go you. That's fabulous.

And you know what the best thing about you is? Do you know what the top thing about you is? I bet you can't guess.

I bet you can't. I bet you can't. Do you want me to tell you? Okay.

Well, I'm going to tell you anyway. It's that you're you. Want to know why? Because there's only one of you.

That's it. There's only one you. That means that you're unique and that means that you're special and that means that nobody else is as good at being you as you are.

Does that mean you always know how to be yourself? Nope. Absolutely not.

Does that mean that you're always your authentic self? Nope. Totally not.

Does that mean that you get up every morning and you try your damnedest to get through the day and to be the best person you can be? Yep. And that's all that matters.

Because at the end of the day, you're still the only you there is. And that is still freaking amazing. So sit with that for a minute.

Sit with that. The world is a better place because you're in it because there's only one of you and the world needs one of you. Did you know that? Because if you didn't, I'm telling you.

It's the kind of thing that there doesn't need to be a why. Heck, most of the things in this world, there isn't a why. Most of the good things that happen, there isn't a why.

They just are. And you're one of those things. You're you and the world needs one of you and we have the best possible you we can have.

And that's pretty freaking fantastic. So go ahead and like own that for a minute. It's just you and me.

Nobody else can hear you. Nobody else can see you. So take a minute and just feel how good it feels to just be you.

I know things get shitty sometimes. I know circumstances can suck. Trust me.

But take a minute and just appreciate you because you deserve that. Can you feel it? Your unique special awesomeness just pouring through you? If not, you need to listen to this again and again and again and again until you do feel it.

Until you believe it. Because you deserve to. You know what I do every morning? And this is probably going to sound hokey and cheesy and you're probably going to roll your eyes because I know I do but whatever.

Every morning before I start my day, I have a journal and I write three things that I'm grateful for every single day. And you know, the one day it was like I'm grateful for coffee because without coffee the day doesn't work. I'm grateful that I can put an oatmeal cookie in my coffee.

That was literally what it was last week. One of the things was I'm grateful that I can put an oatmeal cookie one of the things was I'm dunking an oatmeal cookie into my coffee because the oatmeal cookies are really hard and when you dunk them in the coffee they get nice and soft and they're nice and like squishy and they just taste amazing with the coffee. If you haven't tried it, try it.

These are the kinds of things that I write down. And when I'm having a really crap day I can go to my gratitude journal and I can be like oh yeah there's lots around me that's awesome. And one of the things that I try to throw in every once in a while is I'm grateful for me.

I'm grateful that I'm me. I know it's not easy. It's not easy when the pressures of everyday life and all the crap surrounding us and the world's going crazy.

When all of that is happening I know it's not easy. But that doesn't make you any less awesome, does it? I don't think so.

If anything I think it makes you more awesome for dealing with it, don't you? So I'm going to wrap it up here but I want to tell you, from me to you, that even when things look really bad and even when things feel their worst, you are still epic. You're still awesome.

You're still living every moment of your life. You're still living every day being you. And you deserve a pat on the back for that.

So go ahead and give yourself one. And if you can't, go ahead and listen to this again and let me do it for you. Because I will always believe that you deserve the best.