 Hello, my beautiful internet friends. You are looking particularly lovely today. Thank you for joining me here today for a few minutes out of your afternoon or your morning or your evening. I have noticed a trend since I have become a person with a visible disability that I wanted to chat about today, and it's something that I think comes from an incredibly kind, compassionate, loving, giving place, but I think it is something that's also worthy of discussion. Now, before we dive into the subject and the subject is perceived self-esteem, I would love it if you would consider, don't have to do it, I'm not going to tell you what to do, but if you consider subscribing to this channel at the end of this video because I am trying to beat my friend Aaron from Life of Paulos to 200,000 subscribers before he gets to 250,000 subscribers. Do you want to help me out with that? That'd be fantastic. Let's dive into the subject though. So I have noticed that people often make assumptions about what I must feel about myself as an amputee, as a person with a visible disability, and that assumption is usually that I don't like myself or that I must think I am less of a person or less worthy, and they're not the ones telling me that. They're the ones reassuring me that that is not the case, that I shouldn't feel bad about myself, that I'm worth just as much as any other person. And these conversations are often unprovoked. They aren't me expressing that I'm having a hard time and someone trying to reassure me. Oftentimes they're out of the blue, and I think it's so kind that people want to encourage me and like reassure me, but it's also kind of interesting. I think it speaks to something deeper going on, and let me explain what I mean. So there are a couple situations where this has happened. Most recently I've noticed really heavily on TikTok. Now, TikTok has a younger demographic from my understanding. I joined about two months ago. It's been so much fun to just like make silly videos. I just make silly videos. I've not made a single serious thing there. I'm dancing or goofing off or making like silly like how-to videos with your prosthesis that don't make any sense. And it's just fun, right? And so often I will get comments saying, you know, you're still beautiful. Don't worry about the fact that you're missing a leg. Or they'll say, girl, don't don't worry about it. You're worth just as much as other people in a video where I'm like just dancing and being a goof and showing the fact that I'm missing a leg. There are a lot of comments that echo this idea of like, you're still worth something. Don't worry about it. And then I also had a beautiful encounter with someone in real life where I walked into a store. I was on crushes at the time. They could very clearly see that I was an amputee and they actually talked to me for about 20 minutes and it was such a kind emotional, passionate conversation where they so desperately wanted to convey to me, you are absolutely worthy as much as you were before you lost a leg. And to be clear, I wasn't like having a hard time this day. I wasn't, you know, in tears or whatever. I wasn't a good place, but they saw me looking visibly different and wanted to tell me, you're still beautiful. You're still worth something. And I so appreciated that they took time out of their day to give me that message. And it felt like it was really important for them to say to me. And I loved that. But all of these situations are fascinating to me because that's honestly not what I think about myself. If you've watched my channel for a while, you know that I have hard days. I have bad days. I've had moments of insecurity for sure. I've dealt with more insecurity over this past year of being an amputee than I actually thought I would. However, I've not questioned my worth or my value as a human being. And a lot of people seem to think that I do. It's like there's this assumption that you must kind of hate yourself if you're not society's definition of normal. I still haven't figured out what normal is actually supposed to mean, but I think we all kind of, or at least most of us feel like we should be normal. Like there's a pull towards a normal. I definitely felt, I don't know if you have comment down below to let me know. It seems to me as a person with a visible disability over the past year that people assume that I don't like myself because I look different. And that isn't the case, which I think is really interesting that that assumption is always made. Like so, so what is that really saying? I think it's worth thinking about. I think it's worth examining in ourselves. I have no doubt that I've thought that about other people in my life. I've no doubt that I've thought that about people who I looked at and saw as different than myself and thought they must, you know, not feel great about themselves. While that wasn't the case, we make these assumptions. And I think it's so kind to want to encourage people based on that. But also it's not necessarily true. It's not necessarily reality. And what do we do with that? So if I'm not saying that, if I'm not putting that into the world, if I'm not asking for reassurance on that, where is that coming from? And that's what I think is really interesting, specifically from like the younger audience on TikTok. I'm going to make some pure speculation here and say that I feel like it comes from a place of fear, of what someone feels like they might feel like if they were in my position. I also think that perhaps on a slightly darker end of things, which is entirely subconscious for most people, I think people do have some negative assumptions about disabilities or visible differences. And that maybe to some extent, you aren't worth as much in society. I think that that perception was definitely more true years ago than it is now, which is truly heartbreaking. No one should have ever had to have dealt with that. But unfortunately they did. People with disabilities were kind of seen as second-class citizens. And I think bits of that still remain today, but it is definitely getting better. And I would like to continue to be a part of that change. But I feel like there's so much fear when it comes to this sort of thing. There's so much fear around being different, looking different. And actually it is pretty scary. I get that. Your value and your worth is not tied to what you look like. Your value and your worth are not even tied to your health. They're not tied to how other people perceive you. They're tied to who you are, to your character, to your humanity, to being alive, to being a person on this planet, and to having the opportunities to make choices every day. I feel like in the society I exist in, we often assign value and worth so heavily to other things, like looking perfect, whatever that actually means, to looking a certain standard. And I feel like people see me and they're like, oh, she's even further away from that standard than most people, even though no one actually meets that like perfect, you know, Photoshop model standard, right? And in all honesty, I don't feel that way. Like I said, I absolutely have had moments of real insecurity more than I thought I would. But I know that I'm worth just as much as a person as I ever have been. And if you are a person who is dealing with a disability, visible or invisible, if you're a person who's dealing with anything or you're questioning your worth because of external circumstances, please know that your worth is not ever determined or impacted by those things. You're here, you're alive, you are worth everything. You get to make choices every day. And that is everything, especially to the generation that's behind me to teenagers and younger people. I feel like there needs to perhaps be better understanding of this because sometimes things happen because sometimes people lose limbs because sometimes disabilities happen that we don't predict because sometimes you don't look the way you feel like you should and that can have such a crushing suffocating effect on how you view yourself, on how you feel like your worth as a person is. But that's not it. If you're dealing with some situation right now or you're afraid, then the future you could where something could happen and you look different and your worth is suddenly impacted. Know that that is never the case. It can feel that way. It can be something to work through. It can be something you need support to figure out how to find a path to get out of. But your value as a human being is not impacted by how you look. Your beauty as a human being is not impacted by how you look. You are a beautiful, incredible person who has so much worth and value. You listening to me right now. I sincerely love and my heart is warmed by people who want to reassure me, hey, you have value still, but I do know that and I will continue to appreciate the encouragement that they give me. But I also wanted to let you guys know that I am aware of that and that I hope that you're aware of that too for yourself. I don't want to sound like some cheesy motivational speaker or some, you know, easy cheesy post on Instagram, but you have value just the way you are and no external circumstance is going to change that. Nothing anyone can do to you, nothing that happens to you is going to change your worth as a person. I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Is this something that you've dealt with? Whether or not you're a person who deals with a disability, whether it be visible or invisible, is this a struggle that you've had? Do you have this perception? Do you assume that people with disabilities must think less of themselves? And it's totally fine if you do have that perception. I'm just curious because I don't think it's a perception that needs to persist in our society, though I do realize that it's out there. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Like I said, please comment down below. I will be reading all comments as I always do on my videos. A quick and yet deep and thorough thank you to all of my patrons over on Patreon. Patreon has supported me so much over this past year. There's been so much that has happened and gone on and you guys have been an incredible emotional and financial support. I cannot thank you enough if you're interested in being a part of my Patreon family. The link is right here. Check it out. If you don't know what Patreon is, there is a thorough explanation of it right there that you can check out and I'd love to see you over there. Thank you so much for listening guys. Thank you for spending a few minutes out of your day here with me today. I truly appreciate it. You could be anywhere in the world doing anything and you chose to spend it with me so thank you. I love you guys. I'm thinking of you. Remember, you are worth everything and I'll see you in the next video. Bye guys.