My best friend challenged me around 4 years ago to look in the mirror.

As I did, my head lowered and tears fell. I hated what I saw because all I could see was what negative people had said to me.

He stood behind me holding me tight. When he asked me what I saw I began with words I had heard over and over and over again… ” ‘I am fat, ugly and stupid. I am an idiot who doesn’t know anything.’ I see a very scared woman who doesn’t know if she can survive alone. I see a very frightened little girl.”

He hugged me so tight and whispered in my ear “you have been robbed of the privilege of seeing an amazingly intelligent and absolutely beautiful woman. You are very lost but only you can answer what path you want to take in your life. May I tell you what i see?”

“Absolutely.”

“I see beauty, not just your outward beauty but also the kind and loving soul that has a heart more incredible than anyone I have ever met before.”

“then you have not met many people have you?” I interjected.

He hugged tighter “Woman!! I also see a woman with a comeback for almost anything I say! And a child’s playful spirit that encompasses a decisive, level headed, reasoning person. I have yet to find a subject that you do not have an opinion on or don’t know something about in detail. I see a woman who doesn’t argue her point, just states it matter of factly. You have swayed how I think many a time because of your reasoning behind what you have said. I see a brave woman who doesn’t know she is.”

This man has always asked me if I have been looking in the mirror… he has encouraged me to look deeper than the glass, to look at Amy, not as anybody’s anything but just as Amy. As I tell him of the setbacks in my life he encourages me to go back to the point when things went awry and take a different path, not to allow setbacks to hinder me from a goal. And when I talk to him about something exciting in my life he smiles, you know that big ear to ear grin? Then he asks me “Are you beginning to see and believe in the Amy that I know?”

With that, I would challenge you all, with the love that has been shown to me, Look in the mirror, not as anybody’s anything but as you. What do you see? Do you see a lie that negative people have made you believe or do you see the person you want to be, have every ounce of becoming or are?