We're Number 1!

Imagine if you will; a roaring crowd of thousands of fans, holding up signs and screaming in support at the top of their lungs, all rooting for…you. That’s right, posters with your face on them, chants of your name, and the un-wavering belief that you can do it! Much like the 15th round in a “Rocky” movie, your name has become the soundtrack to victory! Continue to imagine the faces of the crowd, each and every one of these shouting screaming and endorsing fans are…you. Your face, your voice, YOU. Now take that image, burn it into your brain, go walk in front of a mirror, and look at yourself. How comfortable or out of place does this seem?

In this cold, abusive, insulting and demeaning world we strive to find a cheering section. As children we look to our parents for support, our friends for validation, even our siblings for the thumbs up. This attitude carries over into adulthood as we are constantly searching for that external appreciation of who we are and what we’ve accomplished. Why?

Sure a pat on the back feels good, but in the grand scheme of things what does it mean? Am I any more or less correct in the decisions that I make just because someone agrees with me? Does that really alter the outcome or my situation? If you have a job where public opinion dictates your employment or income then you have to take that into consideration a little more, but for the other 5 billion people walking around…

Who came up with this idiotic idea that we need external validation to be whole? Last time I checked I was complete and anybody else with me was a +1. The point is, we should all be our number one fans! We need to embrace the idea and support ourselves like we support our favorite sports team or a character on television.

I’ve never heard a Yankee fan ask if it’s okay to like them, they just do it. So why would that same person question their right to date the person they’re attracted to, or the profession they wants to go in to? Getting an outside opinion is great, it gives us perspective, but there is no greater opinion about ourselves than the one that we have. We are responsible for how we feel about us. Maybe we didn’t get the hugs, high fives, or kudos when we were young, but we have to believe in ourselves…even if no one else does.

Each day that we are fortunate enough to wake up, we should be proud of the life we have and the opportunity to make it better. So as you get up tomorrow morning and stand in front of that bathroom mirror, stare at yourself and be proud…and if you want to hum “Eye of the Tiger”…I won’t tell anyone.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Generic License.


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