Raise your hand if you've never looked at someone or something and made a judgment about who they are, the quality of their character, or an assessment of their abilities by some completely arbitrary and superficial factor. I see that every hand is raised. So we've all done it. None of us are proud of this, but it's something we've done.
Now, raise your hand if someone has looked at YOU and made a judgment about you. Maybe you're a bit overweight and someone has said that makes you entirely undateable. Maybe people snub their noses at you as they look down on what you do for a living. Maybe people make assumptions about you based on a family member with a disability. Maybe someone told you that you couldn't achieve your goals because you aren't smart enough or pretty enough or some other crazy factor. I see that, again, every hand is raised. Interesting.
How did it feel? It was a blow to your ego, right? It may have pushed you off your game and played some mind games with you. Did you let go of a dream because of some catty comment that hurt you to your core? It may have made you question the person you know yourself to be.
Finally, have you ever had the experience where you got to prove all the haters wrong? Where they'd judged you and you got to wipe the floor with them? Remember how THAT felt? I don't know about you, but I think it's the world's greatest feeling.
In case you've never had that experience of getting to prove everyone's judgments wrong or reach your dream anyway, watch this video and imagine yourself as Susan Boyle for just a minute. It's powerful and it will change you.
If you're reading this on your iPhone and can't watch that video, watch the You Tube version here. You Tube won't allow embedding, sorry.
You can also visit Susan's fansite here.
Oh, and yes, she really did say she's 48 and never had a boyfriend and never been kissed. But she dreamed a dream and she never let it go. Susan Boyle is my new hero.
And thanks to Brad Meltzer for starting my day with this video. He always finds the most inspirational and uplifting stories. He loves the rooting for the underdog. Friends like him are priceless.
UPDATE: Check out this article on Jezebel about Susan Boyle. Fantastic!
WOW. This is what I needed to get my day going. WOW. Awesome. Thanks for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteDlisted posted that the other day and I skipped by it. Glad I stopped to take the time to watch it today. Remember back in the day when singers and musicians weren't expected to be model-pretty and just judged on their musical ability?
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