At the beginning of a new school year, a class teacher stands up in front of her students holding a $100 bill.
She tells them, “Put your hands up if you want this money”.
Every hand in the room goes up, to which the teacher says, “I am going to give this money to someone here, but first, let me do this…”
She takes the bill and crumples it up in her hands, before asking, “Who still wants it?”
The hands stay up.
The teacher then drops the bill on the floor, stomps and grinds it into the ground, and picks it back up. “How about now?” she asks again.
The hands stay up.
Class, I hope you see the lesson here. It didn’t matter what I did to this money, you still wanted it because its value stayed the same. Even with its creases and dirtiness, it’s still worth $100.”
She continues, “It’s the same with us. There will be similar times in your life when you’re dropped, bruised, and muddied. Yet no matter what happens, you never lose your value.”
Moral of the story:
Life’s hardships are inevitable and we’ll all be put through the ringer at some point, often through no fault of our own.
Don’t let these challenges alter your feelings of self-worth. You’ll always be enough; you have something unique and special to give and offer the world.