Josephine looked at her reflection, wondering if she could be enough for this life. Life was so scary for her. She knew that no matter what life would bring her, she would always have to face challenges, no matter how hard she tried to run away from them. Her challenges would always be walking beside her. Walking beside her, the challenges left her feeling lonely.  She always thought she would not be enough for her reflection. Yet, her reflection was so more than what Josephine saw. If only she could see what was in her reflection. Suppose Josephine could see deeper than what she saw in her reflection. Josephine, reflection would only go as deep as she is willing to see her reflection.

The deeper Josephine is willing to see her reflection, the more Josephine can see in herself, the more she is willing to see what people see in her. Yes, Josephine looked as if she had all the courage from the outside, but standing next to her reflection, she felt as if she wouldn’t be able to make it in this world with challenges. The way Josephine felt on the inside was nothing but shame and pity for herself. In contrast, others could see that Josephine had more charisma in her pinky than most non-disabled people in their whole body. Josephine was so afraid of her own thoughts and shadows that if she continued to listen to the negativity, she would never make progress that others had hoped for her in life.

It wasn’t about Josephine’s charisma; it was more about the way Josephine presented herself in life. Joephine made her life and challenges look so effortless, if only she felt that way. The negative thoughts and ideas from people who should have been Josephine’s positive role models in her life journey; these people ended up brainwashing her. With all this negativity, it can be easy, Josephine, or for that matter, anyone, to focus on more negativity than positivity. It took Josephine years to erase these thoughts from her mind. Since the negativity took up so much space in Josephine’s mind, she couldn’t find the space to share the positive things that people knew and told her.