“No matter what you do in your life,
what you create, what career you have, whether you have a family or make lots
of money; your greatest creation is always going to be your life’s story” –
Jonathan Harris
We all have
a story, for some it’s stored in a box on a shelf, neatly organized among the
other parts of our history. For others
it’s buried deep beneath everything else, rarely looked at. But for some that story becomes a secret, its
memory and pure existence hidden from most of the people in our life. Sometimes the shame attached to that story
gives us the reason to deny the reality of it ever happening. So, we begin by doing little things to ignore
it or refuse it. Sadly we sometimes lose
sight of its power to motivate or strengthen us.
The beauty
of that story or secret is that despite our belief of being alone in its
experience we are not. Someone somewhere
has travelled a similar road or shared a comparable sadness. I believe that secrets are deeply rooted in
our foundation of self. Sometimes they
break us down, but more often, they build us up.
The beautiful
thing of humanity is that we are born into a community of similar beings. We were never meant to live alone, nor should
we struggle alone. To be human is to
share with another the story of ourselves, even the secrets, especially the
secrets. These stories speak to our
ability to feel, to our limitless existence, and our ability to persevere in the
face of adversity.
There is a
true strength and an admirable notion to the person who shares each part of
self, even the parts that are tarnished, bruised or broken. Because the beauty of humanity isn’t about
being perfect it’s about being honest to your experience.