Powerful Words

You are powerful.  You are strong.  You are beautiful.

I had a woman tell me on Sunday that I was changing her life.  My customers have really reached out to me lately.  I've had a lot of emotional connections with women that I've spent less than an hour with and it's been a crazy time for me.  I've had so many people make specific comments that touched me deeply.  I know the client I was with on Sunday thought that I was changing her life, but really, she was changing mine.

I didn't want to be at work on Sunday.  I was tired from a long week and had the next two and half days off and I was ready for the relaxation to start.  But I care about my job and I care about my customers, so I put on my smile and went to work.  Once I got there, the day started off slow.  I was struggling just to stay awake and my nerves were on edge.  The first person that stopped by Estee Lauder that morning knew exactly what she wanted and didn't want to chat along the way, which I was perfectly okay with.  The next five customers all had difficult situations that were a struggle to resolve.  Then a client (who will remain nameless) walked up and said "You are so beautiful."  What?  I'm sorry.  Did she just say I was beautiful?  Is she joking or just blind?  Beautiful?  Now, I am a lot of things, but beautiful is not one that I get often.  Interesting.  Smart.  Determined.  Kind.  Funny.  Those are all things I hear.  But beautiful?  No.  I stopped for a second to analyze her angle and then responded with the dumbest thing I could have said, "really?"  She looked at me like I needed to take a course on how to properly accept a compliment.  This client asked if I had time to help her pick out a concealer and, of course, I did.  While we were picking out a concealer, it came up that she had a date that night and I asked if she wanted me to do her makeup for it.  She said yes and got in the chair.  I worked and she talked.  She began to talk about some pretty deep things that were going on in her life and I just listened.  When she was finished I said "wow.  It's amazing that you were able to share that."  She said "oh my gosh...I didn't even realize I was dumping on you!"  She wasn't dumping on me.  I loved hearing her story.  She had an incredible story to tell.  I didn't know how to say that to her at work so I just exchanged the words she greeted me with, "You are so beautiful."  My client cried.  Then she told me I was patient.  I didn't feel patient that day...I actually was the opposite of patient.  I was ready to go home.  I was ready to be with my family.  But I think I was supposed to be there, in that moment, to tell someone that her story mattered.

I used to walk through life very closed off.  My mental health journey has really allowed me to open myself up and allow things to come into my life.  I've opened myself up to a lot of hurt and pain, but all of that has been matched by even more love and beauty.  Sometimes we need to share our struggles.  Sometimes we need to just say what we think.  You are beautiful - That's okay to say.  Our words change people.

Our words are powerful.  We have to use them.