I’ve been there.
I know,
not exactly,
but partially,
how it feels
to doubt.

I get
that you don’t get
how fabulous you are,
how positive we are.

The dreams we hold
dear,
as children,
as princesses and princes,
or as knights
or court jesters,
get beaten.
We lose.

Instead of dreams,
nightmares.
Or worse.
Because in nightmares
we fight.
We rage,
rage,
against the onslaught,
against the lava
that covers us,
against our pants
falling down,
preventing us from running
until we awaken,
wrapped
and trapped
in the sheets
designed to hold us
and keep us
safe
and warm.

No nightmares
take us to death’s door,
stop our dreaming.
It is the belief
that we can’t.
We fear to close
our eyes,
not because we’ll dream
nightmares,
but because we fear
dreaming
nothing.

That fear
follows us
into life.
We believe
the doubts.
We believe
the nothing.
We see
nichts.

But we are always
wrong.
Even when we are
nothing,
we are something.
The likelihood
of being great
is just as great
as the lie
we believe
of nothing.

You tell me
“I think I am
nothing.”
I tell you
“I think you are
something.”

Which is right?
Even in a straight-up
gamble,
there is fifty percent
likelihood
you are
something.

This is no gamble.
It is real.
You exist.
And because you exist,
you are
something.

How great
your something
is
can be discovered.
If not,
it still exists.
It is there
because
you are here.

You just
have to accept
the fact
that,
no matter how you see
yourself,
(or don’t),
other people are going to see
you.
Most will see you well.
And they
(at this point in your life)
are more likely to be closer
to the truth
than you,
sadly,
are.

Some day you will get back
to seeing yourself
as the awesome
and creative
and talented
and intelligent
and shining
person
you really are.

Right now,
you just
have to take
my word
for it.

Word.
Truth.