"Wow, you look TERRIBLE!" "Look at that nose!" "How much weight have you gained?" "You are REALLY not attractive."
If you heard those comments being said to someone you would probably rush to that person's defense. You'd tell that person to get away from this terrible jerk, that they were a bully... worse, an abusive asshat. You would never let your friends or family be spoken to this way. We would rise up like a geeky plague and put them in their place.
What if that bully is you? You are saying these awful, untrue, hurtful things to someone you should care deeply about: You. What if you are your own bully?
Why do we see the injustice of being unkind to someone else but not to ourselves? I see it so much, not just in the Geek community, but all over. We are downright cruel to ourselves. We wonder why we can't be like someone else. Prettier, more successful, BETTER. We want to be someone else entirely sometimes.
What if, even just once in a while, we treated ourselves like we would our loved ones? What if we remembered the beautiful parts of us... what makes us unique and even, dare I say, special. We are so beat up by our own thoughts that we can't help but believe them, but what if we could change that programming? What if instead of being someone else you could be YOU 2.0?
That you has permission to feel good about themselves. That version has some kick ass qualities that the world needs and is just out there waiting for. This version can override that inner bully's bullshit and tell it to cram it, you are no longer hearing that old, useless garbage. This you is waiting to come out, to be in the mental sunshine a lot more. That you is ready to put that bully's undies up the flagpole for once.
You have permission to never be bullied again. You are too damn amazing to waste one more day listening to anything but the truth: You are fabulous. Here and now.
Welcome to the reboot my friends.
