Dear Little Me,

You don’t care, do you? You don’t care at all. Their opinion doesn’t sway you one bit. Their perceptions of you and this whole situation? Doesn’t phase you a second.

That 6th birthday card, those wrapped-up presents with pretty pink bows on top, the birthday party that made you feel oh so special? You’re just loving it. Loving it.

You don’t care if they thought you were too happy, too proud, too excited about this thing just for you.

You don’t try to get inside their heads, wondering how they feel about this or that. You just are. And they just are.

You don’t change yourself to accommodate them. You’re happy. You’re excited. And you’re showing it. You’re living it.

It doesn’t really matter what they think, does it?

Little girl. Hear me out. Don’t spend a lifetime getting in their heads. Don’t worry what they think. Don’t bend to their every need.

Don’t change you. for them.

And another thing…

The weight of the world is not on your shoulders. The weight of their world is not on your shoulders.

What they think, how they perceive you, how their world compares to yours? None of it’s your weight to bare. It’s your weight to share.

Care, but don’t worry.

Share, but don’t concern yourself to the point of fatigue.

Dare to believe that your opinion counts just as much as theirs.

Their happiness is not paramount to yours. And your fulfillment in life is not dependent on their fulfillment.

Listen…

They won’t be fully themselves, unless you’re fully you.

So little girl, keep being you. And don’t worry so much about them.

Because if you’re not you? Then God’s great big world isn’t fully itself either.

 

 

 

*This series is inspired in part by a blog post I wrote in January 2014 titled “Go. Like It Matters. Go. Like It’s Your Life.” And in part by Bonnie Gray’s new book, Finding Spiritual Whitespace. For more information about WHY I’m writing this series, click here to read the first post of this series titled “Restoring the Little Girl Voice (Part 1).”