My friend calls from Texas to update me on her life and children. She shares this incredible story and gives me permission to share it (and the photos) with you.
Her sweet daughter has had to wear hearing aids these past few years. This little girl doesn’t want anybody talking about them; she hides her hearing aids with her long hair, and she just wishes everybody would ignore them.
For years, she hides them.
But this year, she asks her dad to make her into a giant hearing aid for her Halloween costume. She asks him to cut out ear holes so she might point to her hearing aids and explain to everybody at school how they work, where the battery is, and where she hides the wires.
I repeat: A little girl dresses up as her greatest insecurity and essentially says to the world, “Ask me about this.”
Tears fill my eyes as I think about all of us parading around, showcasing our greatest insecurity. I think about walking around in freedom, coming out of hiding, and amplifying the thing we hate the most about ourselves in order to turn it into a beautiful thing.
I share the story with my college students, and they are moved and inspired. I ask them about their greatest insecurities. Would they do what this little girl did? Would anybody?
I’m amazed. Living with flair means we come out of hiding, show the world our greatest insecurity, and boldly say, “Ask me about this.”
We’d be free.
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What’s your greatest insecurity? I think mine is my big tummy that I’m always trying to suck in! Maybe it’s the pores on my nose, my coffee breath, or my awkward gait. Oh, I could go on!
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Hi Heather, thank you for posting this story. It was especially meaningful to me because I also wear cochlear implants, like the little girl. But I'm not nearly as brave as she is, it takes so much guts to wear such a big insecurity as a hearing aid so vividly and I really admire her for that. I hide mine under my hair and I'm constantly aware of it and self-conscious about it. May the little girl continue to be bold and brave, such a wise little one 🙂