One Beautiful Rock

About a year ago, I was able to get away from the cold, blistery Wisconsin weather and come down to Texas to visit C.  This was when were still doing the long distance thing, so the trip was familiar to me.  His parents were also visiting Texas, staying in Fredericksburg, about an hour west of Austin.  We went to see them, and were able to take a trip to Enchanted Rock.  It's a state park, but mainly it's this huge granite rock formation.  We walked around on the trails, and then hiked up it, and it really was a hike!  As I was going through old pictures, I found these, and thought I would share them with you.  I never thought rocks were beautiful, they're rocks, I was proven very wrong.  This rock, being exactly who it is, was breathtaking.

We are born with only one obligation, to be completely who we are.  Yet, as we grow up, the world seems to have this impact on us, that maybe we're not enough.  When we feel badly about something in our lives, or feel badly about ourselves we often try on other "skins."  Playing out "if only" scenarios in our heads, instead of focusing on understanding and caring for exactly who we are.  We compare ourselves to others, and most often will come up short. 

In an effort to escape whatever pain we're feeling we think, "if I was ___ I'd be further from this pain."  I would be harder to miss, I would have a better chance at being loved and understood.  The reality is in the end we'll return to exactly who we are, and the pain will still be right there.  That saying "if we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back," is very true.  I'm sure each of us can name something that one of our loved ones has gone through and we've thought, "thank God that wasn't me."  I find myself repeating this when I see someone that looks or has something I don't. 

I have a close friend that is going through a hard time in her life right now.  She's not where she thought she would be, things don't seem to be going her way.  There are a couple things she is going to try to work on to improve herself, and I think that's awesome.  Change is possible when it's for the right reasons, and when you're not trying to fundamentally change who you are at your core.  We have to embrace where we are, who we are, and move forward with a true understanding of those two things.  I believe this will bring you to your happiest self.  

Sometimes we have to stop focusing on how the world sees us, how we compare to others, and just be us.  If we're smart, confident, ambitious, or lazy :)  Take a lesson from the rock, be who you truly are and you will be beautiful. 

PS You know who you are:  I love you :)