You’re a Peach –

Once upon a time a video saved my life. It showed me, for the first time, my spiritual trajectory and practical purpose.

It was all about love. Love. Beginning and ending with self love. Leo Buscalia looked straight into the camera, straight into my soul, and told me “You can be the ripest, juiciest, world-class, award-winning peach, and there will still be people in the world who don’t like peaches.”

Well said, Leo.

For most my life I was a chameleon. I would bend and contort myself to make people feel at ease, and in the process I would become what would please them most. If people didn’t like peaches, I’d act like a banana or an apple or an orange. It made me nervous. Anxious. It made me alone inside a room crowded with people and good intentions.

Mostly, it made me exhausted.

Until I learned the fine art of belonging, and decided to entertain myself, letting the peach connoisseurs show up at my fruit stand.

And I just want to encourage you today that you don’t have to be anybody but yourself. You are fruity and weird in all the right ways. Your people will recognize you and love every last bit of your juicy self. If you’re struggling with rejection or the singular pain of longing, listen to the muse of Maya Angelou, who once said: “Dont go where you are tolerated. Go where you are celebrated.”

Sometimes that has to start with JUST YOU. You liking you. Celebrating you. Entertaining you. Don’t worry about who’s approving and not approving. Play. Dance. Enjoy your whackadoodle self. Make a fruity YOU smoothie and drink it down.

And know, today, that this peach celebrates you…in all your garlic-banana-pineapple-onion-watermelon ways.