The world, it needs you.

But it needs the real you.

Not the one with the mask looking to blend in.

Nor the one making all those concessions to avoid being left out.

No, the real you.

With your flaws and your insufficiencies, your strengths and your gifts, your hopes and your dreams,

it needs the you that so often hides away underneath that blanket of caution and skepticism.

The you that's coupled with vulnerability.

More easily ignored than brought to life with conviction,

but that's the you this world needs.

When I was younger, I seemed to separate life into two categories.

Me and one, and everyone else in the other.

And guess which of the two categories I assumed had it all figured out?

In my mind, I was the one, the only one who didn't know,

the one who was winging it, stumbling my way

through each and every day.

All those other people, though,

they not only had plans, they had the right plans.

They knew the right details, but I didn't.

And so in my head, me being right required I necessarily look to them.

I follow their lead. Since there exists an established, correct path,

that must be where I steer the ship.

...