[Vanessa White]

Schooboi: You forgot to tell us how your fun quote has changed or influenced you or your life..... do tell!

I, like Jennifer, love quotes, I scribble them on paper, memorize, give them out as handouts at trainings, or send them to friends. I have many, but this one is one of my all time faves: (it is rather long, but worth it)

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God- Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other 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 everyone. And as we let our own light shine we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fears, our presence automatically liberates others." Nelson Mandela, from is Inaugural speech, 1994

Has this influenced me, and how? I feel like I live by this quote, that was given to me at a training that I attended four or so years ago. On days that I feel like I put myself out there way too much, I think about "who am I not to be" brilliant and gorgeous? And, that if I want to serve others and God in a way that is significant, I need to not shrink. I realize, in being fully myself, how deep my impact is on others, more in the last year of my life than ever. And it humbles me and fills me with great joy.