I heard something the other day (likely a podcast) where the person said “someone is waiting for you to show up with your gifts.”

I started thinking about how everyone has a gift, but not everyone feels qualified to show it.  I’ve debated writing about the idea of feeling “unqualified” a number of times — and I guess I did hit on this when I wrote about Imposter Syndrome.  It’s a topic I have a lot of thoughts on, and may just reserve as a chapter for my second book.  But in any case . . .

We all have gifts.  Some of us are good listeners, some of us are good talkers, some of us are organized, some of us are super duper book smart, some of us are financially savvy, some of us can read super fast, some of us are in great athletic shape with a passion for health and fitness, some of us are writers, some of us are musicians, some of us are caretakers, some of us are creative, and so on.  We ALL have a gift (or multiple gifts!).

The problem is, people don’t consider what they do/traits they have as a “gift.”  It’s too easy to say “well, I’m just a <<insert some label that downplays their importance>> and there’s really nothing special about that” or they will say “well, I’m a <<insert super awesome trait>> but there’s a million people who are better than me.”  I don’t know why we downplay our gifts, but, we do.  I guess we think we’re doing everyone a favor by not being braggy about it.

But when I heard the phrase “someone is waiting for you to show up with your gifts” I felt like it really inspired me.  As most of you know, I am launching an online magazine for women (I wrote about all the details here).  It’s an idea I’ve had for awhile and something I felt like I had to do.  It is a platform to take some of the attention off myself (I was an only child for 17 years and an Aries — I was doomed for a “look at me” way of life from the start) and turn the attention towards sharing other women’s stories.  When I thought of the idea, I thought that I’d beg 10 of my closest friends and family to write articles and they would do it simply because they loved me and/or I pressured them.  But that has not been the case at all.  I have reached out to 60 women and almost every single one said “sure, I’d love to write something” and within days I had articles filling my inbox.

There was no begging.  There was no convincing someone why they should share their stories.  It was just a little nudge, note, etc. to women to say “hey, I know you have a story about <<whatever is unique to them>>, would you want to share that story with others?”  And, they did!  They are!  Articles are coming in as we speak.

It made me realize, all these women were just waiting for me to show up with my gift.  My gift of motivation, inspiration, invitation.  It feels uncomfortable to self-proclaim that I do in fact have gifts and to specifically list them out.  But, these women made me feel like they were just waiting for me to finally show up.

I share this with you to say — we are waiting for YOU to show up with your gifts.  Even if imperfect.  Even if not all the way thought through.  Even if not a money making venture.  Even if your gift feels small and not worthy of the label “gift.”

What’s your gift and how will you show up?  We’re all waiting.