EXPRESS YOURSELF

BY ALEX

 

 

If you see someone else 
doing something you want to 
be doing and feel a tinge of
envy or jealousy or desire, 
please know it’s a reflection 
of your own calling, your own
gifts asking to be shared, 
your own capacity to create 
what you want to create, 
and your own wants 
being expressed.

Someone else doing 
what you want to do
doesn't mean there isn’t 
room for you to do it.

Someone else expressing 
what you want to express 
doesn't mean there isn't room
for your expression.

Someone else creating 
what you want to create 
doesn't mean there isn't room
for your creation.

We need to get rid of 
this idea that there is 
only room for a select few
to do the things 
they want to do.

And we need to get rid of 
the idea that we have to be 
the only ones doing something, 
or be the best at doing it,
in order for it to matter.

There is room for all of us.
There is room for everyone 
to be creating their art 
and sharing their gifts
and expressing their voices 
in all the ways they want to.

The belief that we're all 
competing against one another 
and comparing ourselves as 
better or worse makes it 
really hard to see the brightness 
in each of us, the gifts in 
each of us, and the beauty 
of everyone getting to share 
what they have to share.

There is room for you.
There is room for you.
There is room for you.

Whether in a bookshop 
or on a stage or on your 
living room floor or
at your own desk, 
there is room;

You and your expression belong.

(Lisa Olivera)