You Are Appreciated

You reading this...yes you scrolling through the website... I just want to let you know that YOU are appreciated. Whether you feel like people are showing you love on a daily basis, or you feel like affirmations and positive energy is hard to come by in general, I want to remind you... that YOU are appreciated. Whether you are working and taking classes and working and balancing personal life, and you feel that people are not paying attention or looking at you, just know they are. Know that people admire your drive, your hustle, your ambition to continue advancing...even if you question why you are still pushing forward. If you get a chance, I want you to take a minute and just close your eyes, and remember where you were, and where you are at now. Take a minute, take some deep breaths, and just be in the moment. If you journal, take some time to write in your journal of where you feel like you currently are in your life. If you don’t have a journal, that’s no worries either, use your phone in your notes to write some affirmations about yourself. Before you can help others you have to help others. Before anyone else can affirm you, you have to affirm yourself. You have to know that your presence is a present, and that you matter. When you affirm yourself, know that I am affirming your presence right now, know that others are affirming your presence right now, know that you are appreciated, know that you are cared for. I do not say this just because it sounds like a nice thing to say. In fact, I say this, because I know how it feels to not feel like you are appreciated...like the work that you do is in vain. I am here to tell you that your work is not in vain, and that the work that you are doing is appreciated. Don’t give up, you’ve come too far to stop now. Continue pushing, continue hustling, and continue to affirm yourself daily. It will pay off, you just have to keep going and knowing that what you are doing is not in vain. 

Trust me, I have had many a days, especially in college, where I have felt that the work that I have done (whether it be research, staying on top of classes, or my organization) has gone unappreciated. During those times, the only thing that kept me going was knowing my purpose and that I was here for a reason, regardless of whether I felt appreciated by my peers or not. When I knew my purpose and what it meant, I could affirm myself, and through affirming myself, I was able to affirm others. For me, the ultimate affirmation continues and will  always come through my relationship with God, whom charges me and gives me the strength to continue walking in my purpose. After losing family members and friends through death, I had a moment where I felt like I needed to give people their roses while they can still smell them. This is something that I continue to do, and will continue to do for as long as I am on this Earth, because it is important to me. It is important to let others know that they are appreciated instead of assuming that they know, because sometimes...people don’t know.

So again, I am letting you know... that YOU are appreciated. If you need to reach out, feel free to reach out, and if you feel like you are going to go and affirm yourself, then by all means go for it. Just know that you are not alone, no matter how you are feeling or whether you think that nobody is out here for your best interest. There are people who want to see you succeed, especially me, just know that I am in your corner rooting for you. Now go be GREAT!