To the Girl that Doesn’t Believe in Herself

To the Girl that Doesn’t Believe in Herself, 

We just want you to know how amazing you are.

We see you struggle. We see your hang your shoulders, and your heads, and catch the glisten of tears that roll out of your eyes, before you wipe them away in the hopes that no one noticed them. We see the sadness in your eyes when you feel or worry, you have let your teammates, or yourself, or your coaches, or your parents down. We see your pain.

But mostly, what WE SEE is how amazing and wonderful and talented and capable and gifted and beautiful that you are. We see your bravery to step out there and do your thing, your tenacity when you keep trying your  hardest, your commitment when you continue to work so hard for your dreams. We see your confidence and pride when you witness your hard work come full circle. We see your beauty on the inside and out.

Even though you don’t say it aloud, we also ‘hear’ the things you are saying to yourself. Those moments when you feel shadowed with self doubt, worried you will strike out, or not pitch well, or miss the fly ball that loses the game. We hear how incredibly hard you are on yourself, how you beat yourself up over one silly error despite tons of awesome plays.

And we also hear, how hard you work to empower and lift up, and provide confidence to all the other girls around you when they are having a rough moment on the field.

What we wonder, is just as you put your arms around your teammate in her moment of doubt – why you don’t wrap those same arms and that same compassion around yourself? Why do you choose to be so hard on yourself?  

We wonder, how and why, for even a second – you would think you are not good enough.

We wonder why you would choose (and yes it is a choice) to be brutal with your own spirit rather than lift up your own like you do others?

Do you not deserve the same grace? 

Ask yourself for a moment….what do you have to LOSE by believing in YOU? What do you have to lose by believing that you GOT THIS, that you can do it, that you are worthy, that you are amazing, that you can handle whatever life, or this game throws your way? 

Now just imagine, what you would have to gain by believing in YOU? 

We wish for just a moment, you could see yourself through the eyes of those who love you the most. But since you cannot, we just want to remind you how amazing you are!

The hardest part of softball, or life for that matter – is realizing just how special YOU are, and re-learning how to believe in yourself, no matter what happens.

When you were 3 years old, painting lipstick all over your face, and wearing mis-matched clothes, singing the wrong words to your new favorite song and dancing around the kitchen yelling, “Watch me mama, watch me daddy,” you believed in yourself! And somehow, along the road of life, that born self confidence gets beaten up and questioned. The new trick then becomes getting it back. No matter what the world around you says, no matter what happens, no matter what mistakes you make along the way – you have to always believe in yourself.

Your belief in YOU, is the most powerful tool that you have in your life. And all you have to do is decide, once again, that you are worthy of grace and compassion, and that not being perfect is perfectly okay, and that you were born to be nothing short of amazing!  And you ARE! 

There is no one, and we mean no one – better than you. Being confident does not mean lacking humility. You can remain humble. But stay proud and true to yourself, and be careful of the words you say to yourself in your head. IF you are saying things in your head that you wouldn’t say to your friend, then change your thoughts. Change those words that diminish your shine and sparkle.

Realize that softball, just like life – is a game of successes and failures. And not one or the other defines your greatness. They are each just moments, that quilt together the pieces of your life into a blanket, meant to keep you warm and safe!

You were not put on this world to play small, or to stand in the shadows of others or your own self doubt. Let go of all the words, and thoughts and beliefs that you aren’t good enough. Because we know….the people that love you….that you are not only good enough, you are truly amazing!