For some of us, there is ONE piece of advice or a story that really resonates with us and carries on into the rest of our lives. That piece for me, is the representation of the starfish. For those of you who don’t know the story…here it goes.

One day, the old man was walking along a beach that was littered with thousands of starfish that had been washed ashore by the high tide. As he walked he came upon a young boy who was eagerly throwing the starfish back into the ocean, one by one.

Puzzled, the man looked at the boy and asked what he was doing. 

The young boy paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean. The tide has washed them up onto the beach and they can’t return to the sea by themselves,” the boy replied. “When the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.”

The old man replied, “But there must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach. I’m afraid you won’t really be able to make much of a difference.”

The boy bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it as far as he could into the ocean. Then he turned, smiled and said, “It made a difference to that one!” adapted from The Star Thrower, by Loren Eiseley (1907 – 1977)

This may seem like a simple story—but it has SO MUCH meaning behind it to me. It represents the good we see in this world. Sometimes the good things (especially now with COVID) seem so small and incremental that we may ask ourselves, ‘why bother at all?!’ Why bother taking extra time speaking with someone and listening to their story if you aren’t going to MAGICALLY make everything okay for them and they are still going to hurt. Sometimes these conversations can seem so useless.

I’m here to tell you—they AREN’T. I think with society nowadays we want to see change and we want to see it in BIG and FAST ways. We want immediate gratification and to be able to SHOW we made a difference. But I don’t think it’s that simple. We won’t always see immediate change that’s been influenced by our kindness and patience. We also may not receive gratification that we hope for from these conversations and good things we do for our friends and people around us. 

But that’s just the thing, it takes a strong person to take the time to help individuals and make changes in this world without wanting anything in return. These small changes, conversations, patience and empathy can lead to SIGNIFICANT change. If the powers of hope and empathy are SO SO strong and can change the life course of just ONE person, then I think we are doing our jobs. When all else fails, and the world seems to be crumbling around us, I truly believe that we are making a difference to one person by holding on and offering love and hope, just like the starfish in this story.

I find it discouraging to see when others make fun or nitpick at the things that bring us excitement. No one lives the same life, and we don’t all find joy in the same things and that’s OKAY. We all have different backgrounds, not one the exact same and our backgrounds and things that bring us excitement show us just what we ALL HAVE TO OFFER THIS WORLD—and what a fabulous thing that is! It’s important to surround ourselves with individuals who LIFT us up and CHEER for our accomplishments.

Never let ANYONE tell you that the things you do in life don’t matter, because I’m here to tell you—THEY DO. So take the time to do things you love and that bring you joy, because those are the things that will lead to greater change and help you to find your calling and special place in this world. Because together, we are so much stronger and we can achieve great things to help make this world a better place.

You are fabulous, unique, beautiful, authentic and so so loved—never forget that! 

Xoxo

Steph ♥