I believe we're all here for a reason... many reasons, actually. Some we'll realize, some we won't ever know. Several of us have children. We could say that the reason we're here is because we were supposed to have these children. I'm sure that is true, but that's only a part of it.
Many people live LARGE lives. They become mayors, congressman, senators, presidents. They invent cars, airplanes, telephones, computers. They become movie stars, pop singers, directors, executives. You get the idea. LARGE lives.
Most of us don't fall into that category. Only a very small portion of the world will know we even existed. But that doesn't make our existence any less important or valuable. I mentioned in a previous blog that we ALL have our own piece of the puzzle to bring forth and share. The puzzle isn't complete until our piece is placed. Even though we perceive that what we do and say is insignificant, we may never know what impact it has on someone else. I'll give you a couple of examples.
I have a friend who was going through a difficult time in her life. Occasionally after work we would get together and walk. Obviously while walking, we did a lot of talking. I mostly let her talk so she could vent and work out her problems. She made a life changing decision and things were going better for her. Years later in a conversation, she told me that what I said to her changed her life. I had no idea what she was talking about. She said I told her that if she only looked for minimum wage jobs, that's all she was going to find. She said it was like a slap in the face and the wake up call she needed.
I used to have these little cards that looked like business cards. On them were the words, "Thank you for being who you are. Who you are is wonderful and what you do is important". The idea was to leave them discretely with people you thought should have them. Once when I was having my yearly "pap," they had a nurse practitioner give it to me. She was wonderful, kind and did a great job. I left one of the cards in the exam room hoping she would find it later that day. Instead, she found it right away and ran out to give me a hug and thank me. She had a tear in her eye and said how much she needed that right then. She had just been told that they were cutting back on staff and she was being let go.
A friend of mine who was my mother's hospice nurse in her final days told me that mom asked her why she couldn't just die. My friend told her that she wasn't finished with her work yet. She still had a life to touch with something she might say or do. Mom asked if she really believed that and my friend answered, "Absolutely."
These are examples that I know about. Hopefully there are many, many more that I'll never know about. The same goes for all of us. You never know if that smile, compliment, hug or kind word were just exactly what someone needed right then. It may even change their lives.
So if you ever feel unimportant or that you're not doing much with your life, remember that you may be touching others just by being you.
Here's a simple test to find out whether your mission in life is complete. If you're alive, it isn't.
Love, Paula
