you've been dismissing your greatest gift (&IT'S TIME SOMEONE TOLD YOU THE TRUTH)

I want to tell you about something I did for decades.

Something so quiet I didn't even realize I was doing it.

Every time someone came to me — a friend, a colleague, someone sitting across from me talking about life - I could feel it. 

I could sense what they weren't saying. 

I could see the person underneath the words. 

The fear they were hiding. The hope they were trying to protect. The thing they needed someone to just… notice.

And they noticed that I noticed.

In high school, friends would come to me. Not because I was the smartest in the room. Not because I was the most confident or the most put-together. They came because somehow, without me trying, they felt seen.

I didn't have a name for it then. I just knew it happened.

But here's what I also did - for years and years and years, well into my fifties.

I dismissed it.

Not out loud. Not in a dramatic, "I don't believe in myself" kind of way. It was quieter than that. It was the slow, steady assumption that this couldn't be it. This couldn't be my thing.

My real contribution. My edge.

Because it felt too easy.

Let me pause here, because I think you might know exactly what I mean.

I'm No Big Deal

There's something you do.

Maybe you've always done it. Something that comes so naturally you barely notice it happening.

And because it feels effortless - because it doesn't cost you the way you think real talent is supposed to - you've decided it doesn't count.

You look around at the intellectuals. The confident ones.

The "no nonsense" people who seem to move through the world like they already know exactly who they are. 

And you think: I need to be more like them. I need their qualities. Their certainty. Their polish.

So you chase it.

You study what they do.

You try to fit yourself into their shape.

And somewhere in that chasing, the thing that was actually yours -  the quiet, effortless, irreplaceable thing - gets buried even deeper.

I know this. Because I lived it.

For decades, I looked at the intellectuals and the confident leaders and thought: If I could just be like that, I'd find real success. 

I genuinely believed that my ability to see people  -  to read what was underneath, to make someone feel known just by being present -  wasn't enough.

It wasn't serious enough.

It wasn't impressive enough.

It was just… me.

And "just me" didn't feel like a strategy. Or the greatest gift of any kind.

What Could Make You A "Big Deal"?

I want you to see something. Now, just hold it loosely like an idea you’re considering, ok? 

There’s something I have learned to call, “Strange Jewels”.

The word Jewels — because these are precious. They are gifts. They are the things inside you that have value beyond what you've ever given them credit for.

And Strange — not because they're weird. But because they are so invisible to you that you have no idea they're there. They feel ordinary.

They feel like everyone has them.

They don't.

Your Strange Jewels are the unique strengths buried inside you that you've been taking for granted - the things that come so naturally you've stopped noticing they matter.

But they do. They matter enormously.

Here's where it gets interesting. And maybe a little uncomfortable.

The Voice In Your Head Wants To Keep You Small - & Safe

Most of us have a voice in our head -  I call mine Fred - that pipes up anytime we start getting close to something that actually matters to us.

Fred is fear. He's not a villain. He's a protector. 

He's been guarding the door for years, keeping us safe from the risk of being seen, of standing out, of claiming something that feels too big or too vulnerable or too us.

When I started to suspect that seeing people might actually be my gift - that it might be the very thing I was meant to offer the world - Fred got loud.

What did I hear? You're not a therapist. You're not a psychologist. You don't have the credentials. Who do you think you are, thinking this matters?

And for a long time, I listened to him. Fred is very convincing because he’s emotional. He hits you right where you live...

But here's what Fred doesn't understand.

He doesn't know the difference between real danger and the simple, terrifying act of claiming who you actually are.

And claiming your Strange Jewels? It isn’t danger.

It’s the beginning of everything.

So let me ask you this.

What if the very thing you've been minimizing - the thing that feels too easy, too obvious, too you - is exactly what the world needs from you?

…Not your polished performance.

…Not your attempt to be like someone else.

…Not the version of you that you've been putting together from other people's blueprints.

Just you. Doing what only you can do. In the way only you can do it.

Nobody else brings what you bring.

Nobody else sees what you see.

Nobody else loves what you love quite the same way.

When you stop competing - stop trying to match someone else's shape -  and start contributing from your actual design, something shifts.

You stop vying for space. You start creating it.

That's not arrogance.

That's what happens when a Strange Jewel finally gets to shine.

I didn't fully embrace my ability to see people until I was well into my courage journey. 

It took years of Tiny Brave Steps - small, honest, often uncomfortable moments where I let myself show up as exactly who I was - before I could finally say: This is mine. This is what I bring. And it's enough.

Not because someone gave me permission.

Because I gathered enough evidence to trust it.

That's how this works.

Not in one dramatic moment.

Not in a single "aha."

But in small steps, taken one after another, until the truth of who you are becomes louder than the voice that told you it wasn't enough.

Let's Reveal The Real You

Here's your Tiny Brave Step for today. Take five minutes - that's all.

Ask yourself: What do I do better than anyone else I know?

Not what you're credentialed for.

Not what pays the bills.

What comes so naturally you almost forget it's a strength?

Write it down. Just one thing.

Then ask yourself: What would happen if I did more of this?

Don't overthink it.

Don't judge what comes up.

Just notice where your thoughts go.

That's your edge. That's where you stop looking sideways and start moving forward from exactly who you are.

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Want to go deeper? The Tiny Brave Steps Generator is waiting for you.

Try dropping this prompt in: "Help me identify my Strange Jewels - the strengths I might be overlooking because they feel too easy or natural. Guide me to see what I do better than most people, and help me imagine what could happen if I leaned into that gift more."

It's like having a coach in your pocket - one that meets you exactly where you are, right now, without pressure.

And if you're ready to take that step in a space where you won't be alone in it - Creative Spaces is where women come to make real progress, just by being themselves.

No fixing. No performing. Just showing up and doing the next brave thing. You don't have to have it all figured out to begin. You just have to be willing to take one Tiny Brave Step.

And you already are.