You Are Wonderful

You are wonderful. And I’m going to prove it to you.

You, yes you, are wonderful and infinitely valuable. If you just read those words and thought, “No way, not me. Wonderful is not the word I’d use. What do I have to offer that someone else can’t do better?” Make no mistake, all the world needs you to be is yourself. 

As corny and cliche as it may sound, how well can you say that you really know yourself? For a generation that spends so much time comparing ourselves to others and curating the perfect outward persona to display to the world on Instagram, LinkedIn, or in everyday life, we don’t often take the time to look beneath the surface at who we truly are. The comparison that drives modern life robs us of the chance to appreciate what’s essential to us and only us. Because of that, we forget how wonderful our uniqueness is–the good, the bad, and even the most trivial things that are unique to each person.

If the world needed you to be the people who you compare yourself to, then that’s who you would have been. But you were born as you, a unique mix of all the essential, defining characteristics that can’t be found in anyone else. The chances of this are incomprehensibly small—the odds of your creation, with your exact genetic makeup, are about one in roughly 400 trillion. 

You could have been born at any point in the infinite plane of time, but you were born right now, with the richest history behind you and an exciting, expectant future awaiting for all that you have yet to contribute. Combine that with every unique experience you’ve had and every moment you’ve lived, and you can be assured that there has never been another you—and there will never be. 

You are the great “what might not have been.” You live no other life but yours, and its uniqueness makes its value infinite. Each moment of your life is made rich by the sheer unlikelihood of its existence.

Allow yourself to be astonished by that miracle. Look beyond the unrelenting burdens of finals, work, internships, fears of the future, and regrets from the past. If only for a moment, allow yourself to tap into that sense of wonder that’s always ready to ignite. You are a nail in the house of the universe—a tiny but mighty piece. Courageously love your life and the role you play in the history of the universe, because no one else will ever do it quite like you.