SUNSHINE AURA – self-esteem. self-love. self-actualization. 

I still remember when I was little at school,

Not necessarily unpopular, but certainly

Not the first choice to get picked.

Bullied just a bit for not being “typical,”

(Yet I was not perfect. I could be mean, too),

And even still, I was always smiling and laughing.

I have always had this zest for life that picked me back up.

After the girls I most wanted to come to my birthday party

Called with excuses for why it would be missed.

After that summer at the pool I attempted a front-flip

From the high dive, and instead did a magnificent belly-flop.

Even many years later, when life at home made me feel

So insignificant, as if I was a nuisance, or “baggage.”

I kept moving forward, even on the hardest of days.

I kept believing in a more beautiful future

For myself, and for those closest to me whom I love.

And finally, finally, after years of tears and soft wishes,

Begging little whispers into my pillow for better,

The sunshine I dreamt of arrived.

In the form of family and friends who never gave up on me,

Even when I pushed them so far away,

Balancing on the tiniest precipice of hope I would

One day come back.

In the freedom to make choices and to learn

Expanding my heart and mind and feeling that spark,

The spark of excitement and passion for life.

There were moments when I feared I would lose it,

Lose the innate love of just being alive.

Yet, the sunshine aura inside persisted.

I hope it persists inside of you.

When you feel at your lowest

When you feel at your highest

And all the shades in-between.

I promise you a more beautiful today

A more beautiful tomorrow,

Is accessible, right at your fingertips.

It is in the love you have for yourself

Your closest loved ones and strangers

Just outside your door.

It is in the choice to feel the fear

To feel the doubt and the cringe

The vulnerability creep in

And to take those feelings with you

As you walk with strength

Towards that more beautiful today.