snowflake arches.

“No one is you, and that is your biggest power.”

We’ve heard some variation of this quote by Dave Grohl before. Again and again and again. Words cooed to us by parents, teachers, older siblings, storybooks, aunts, dear leaders and beyond.

But are we listening?

Are we hearing it?

Are we getting it?

We see saw and what-if and hide ourselves away-denying ourselves of opportunities unlocked and dreams achieved before even setting foot onto the proverbial cutting room floor.

We sit at the head of the long black table, puffing our chests out and lifting our noses upward, gazing down at our own selves, our own ambitions and hopes and dreams-like were saving ourselves and everyone around us the trouble of inevitable rejection.

We go round and round and round-convincing ourselves of lies over and over again until we deem them as truth.

It’s all been done before. Everyone else does this or has done this. I’m no different. No one would want to hear from me. My story isn’t unique. I’m not unique. I’m not set apart. I’m meant to squirrel away the dreams I have for my life-stifling them down lower and lower and lower in hopes the nag of it all will eventually just fade out-allowing me to live, to settle, for less than.

If something as small as a snowflake was created fully unique and set apart from every single other snowflake before it, after it, and presently all around it. What does this mean for us as human beings?

Each arch in their icy being, each sharp edge, the timing of when and where they’ll float downward: unique.

Set apart.

Planned.

Not the same as any other single snowflake.

No one experienced the exact same trauma you did when you were 7. No one endured the exact same bullying in Grade 10. No one lights up over cupcake icing consistencies in the exact same way and for the exact same reasons that you do. No one else had that unique experience with that 2nd grade teacher who poured into you so much so the mention of her name still chokes you up. No one else still hears their grandfather’s chuckle ring in their ears on random Sundays and Tuesdays and Just About Every Day. No one else has watched the life you’ve lived through your very eyes-through the veil of every second of our life lived before this very moment.

No one is you.

No one has been you.

No one will ever be you.

The dreams and hopes and visions you have for vour life were put there for a reason; just like each curve of each snowflake was designed for a reason.

They’re not fleeting. They’re not absurd.

They’re not ridiculous. They’re not silly.

They are yours; planted inside your heart for every reason in the book. And those reasons all boil down to:

No one is you. No one has your exact same past and visions and passions. The story of your life, the dark moments and the light spots of it all, marry together with the nags you feel about the life you’re meant to live, leading you to the very purpose of your being.

But only if you allow it.

You are uniquely wonderfully you.

Live in the uniquely wonderful way you feel called to.