I attended a wedding reception for a buddy of mine on Valentines Day! I was approached by a woman who had a 16 year old daughter with cerebral palsy. Her daughter uses forearm crutches and the same crutch tips as myself. We had a great conversation about her daughter and the struggles she had fought through. Her mother was always on the outlook for new products and ideas that would help her daughter function at even a higher level.

One of the things her mom told me really struck a cord, she said:

My daughter just wants to blend in with the other kids

Boy, did that take me back to the days when I was sixteen years old-and the only kid in school on crutches. I just wanted to blend in!! I learned over the years, as she will, that we will never blend in. Guess what, that’s a good thing. We are unique and the sooner that we can embrace our uniqueness and celebrate it-the sooner we are truly free and giving ourselves permission to soar.

For me this was the hardest lesson to accept. Today, I’m a professional speaker and all of my speaker buddies spend thousands of dollars on their “brand” and conveying just that right image…I silently smile to myself and celebrate the fact that of all the professional speakers in the United States;I’m the dude on the fancy crutches that speaks on search engine optimization (SEO). People may not remember me but they remember those crutches and my “brand”.

I hope that all of you who may read read this will celebrate your uniqueness and your special brand-you are truly specail Maryanne Williamson is much more eloquent than me:

“Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”