"I'm proud of you" "I just wanted to let you know that I'm praying for you."
It's amazing how little words and phrases like that can make your day. But words in general have the power to tear you apart.
Today I woke up, took a shower, and turned on my computer. I checked my school email and then Facebook like I do every morning. But this morning was different. I had a message from someone back home that made me smile. In fact, it brightened my entire day. At the end of the message this person said "i'm proud of you....just because i am...just for who you are!!" You might not think that words like that affect someone but it affected me deeply. I've never heard "I'm proud of you" before this past year. And coming from the person it came from, it meant a lot to me.
There is something I have learned about the power of words in the past nineteen years and it's this...
Words can affect someone even if you don't see it.
Words like,
"You're beautiful"
"I'm so proud of you"
"Love you"
are words that many people don't get to hear very often, if ever.
Instead they hear, "You're stupid" "worthless" "ugly" "you're embarrassing".
If people only knew what goes on inside of someone when they hear these words. Sure, they may be really good at hiding their true feelings but deep down, they aren't as strong as they would like to be. Eventually the wall they've built around their heart will start to crack and it will eventually crumble. They start to make fun of themselves and put themselves down because they don't see themselves as worthy. But the truth is, all they have heard are lies. And they are willing to believe these lies because the people they love and trust the most have said them. The greatest mystery to me is why do we let that happen? Are we afraid to stand up for someone in case it gets turned on us?
Maybe we should stop being afraid of what other will say about us or to us and instead stick up for those being hurt the most by their words.
