Monday Motivation: Only One You

As I glance out the window at the falling snow I’m reminded of the saying that no two snowflakes are alike.  Perhaps that saying has become cliche, but sometimes I’m reminded of its power.

Have you ever laid facedown in the snow and really looked at snowflakes?  My 6 year old daughter Gwen has been doing that lately and marvelling often and loudly how beautiful snowflakes are.  And they really are each unique, each intricate, like they were carved out of a diamond facet by a skilled, careful hand.

You are a thousand times more unique, more intricate than those snowflakes.  And not just in the trillions of specialized cells that make up your bones and ligaments and organs and skin and hair.  Not just in your individual fingerprints or the speckles of colour on your iris.  Your personality, the way you put things together, your talents and strengths and even weaknesses are all part of what makes you different from any other person on this earth at any point from the beginning of time until the end.

As the mother of identical twins, I know that even with the same DNA two people can be as different as night and day.  My Meg is talkative, moody, sparkling, delicate, and social.  My Gwen is shy, cuddly, strong, quiet, and goofy.  Despite the fact that they look the same to others, I can instantly tell the difference between their faces, their voices, even their cries.  Of course no one could ever replace one with the other in my mind.

You are the same.  You have a place, a purpose.  Only you can do the things you do the way you do them.  If you weren’t there, you would leave a hole in the fabric of the universe.  If you didn’t do what you were made for, you would leave your threads in the tapestry of history slack.

So do what you were made for.  Be who you were made to be – the best version of yourself.  And never forget that there is only one you.