This is a YouTube video titled "130: We are Born a Blank Slate" created in November 2019. It features a monologue by a speaker named Sam sharing a personal and motivational reflection on self-worth, confidence, and overcoming negative beliefs formed from childhood through adulthood. The content is a solo narrative without multiple speakers and focuses on personal growth and resilience.
Welcome to Fit for your Mind Friday, where I share an insight from me to you. Recently on Instagram, I posted a picture of me as a baby. And you can still find it up there if you look at it. My gosh, I was born with like eight rolls on my arms. In fact, people would stop my mom when I was a baby and say, oh, what a big bruiser you have there. And my mom would joke and say, I would dress you in pink and ruffles and put a bow in your hair, and people would still say, oh, what a big bruiser you have there. I was born a really big baby, and I just kept expanding until I was a toddler. I was really. It's really comical if you could find this. This image of me. But what I want to share with you all today is that we're born a blank slate. You know, everybody is born a blank slate as a baby. And then life starts to happen. And, you know, I personally have failed and fallen down more times than I can count. So many times. And all of those moments of failure, every single one of them could have killed my confidence. And sometimes it did for some moments or some days or even some months, you know, as a baby, as I shared, I was fat, eight rolls on my arm, like the Michelin Man. If you don't know who the Michelin man is, Google it. That's what I look like as a baby. And literally, people would stop my mom and say, what a big bruiser you got there. So that was the beginning of messing up my blank slate right then. In elementary school, to give you an example, I remember the day very vividly. I was in elementary school. I must have been in second or third grade. And I remember being at the playground and trying to fit in and talk to some kids. And this girl named Tracy came up to me and she said, you're ugly. And she punched me. First time I had ever been punched in my life as an elementary school kid, if you can imagine that. And I started believing I'm ugly. And then in fourth grade, I remember being at a new school. I had moved to a new elementary school. I was making new friends. And a fifth grader named Kelly that would ride on the bus with us. I remember I would see her glaring at me with her purple eyeshadowed eyes in fifth grade and just glare at me and talk about me and whisper and call me mean names. And I remember forming this belief that I was unworthy. And then going through school, I was told over and over again by teachers, gosh, Natalie, if You would just apply yourself if you just pay more attention. You see, I was a slow learner, and I was told I had ADD and more. And I started making up this story that I was dumb. And then kids made fun of me for my poofy hair. Now, this was before flat irons were invented. You know what I mean? If you're a poofy hair kid. But they made fun of me. Kids can be cruel. And I took that on and validated more that I'm not worthy and I'm ugly. And image started feeling really important to me. And then fast forwarding more, and I'm skipping over a lot of events, but at 18, I became a waitress. And I remember having a flat chest and not really even being insecure about it, but people made comments about my flat chest. I'd hear it all the time, jokes. They thought they were being funny, but it hurt my feelings. And so, so much so that I made up that it's not attractive to not have a big chest. So much so that I ended up getting a boob job at age 19. 19. Like, why was I making that decision at age 19? I share this because these things that happen to us, they mess up our blank slate. And we start forming these beliefs around ourselves. And then let me keep going. In my 20s, I lost my dad. Now, a lot of you have lost a parent, but I was 22 years old, and my dad was my world. He was the person that always believed in me and would tell me those amazing things about myself. And the one person that I viewed as the one that believed in me was now gone. And that messed with me. And I made up stories in my mind that I'm not worthy of other people believing in me. And maybe I'm not someone that people should believe in. And then in my 20s, I had a very controlling boyfriend. I dated him for five years, and I loved him. And he was very controlling. And he had me believing that I was nothing without him. And I would amount to nothing without him. I would ask him for permission for everything. And I thought I was not worthy to make my own decisions. I needed his validation. And then at 36, I lost my husband, the house I was living in, and I started believing that I'm not lovable or worthy. And I was validating that. And I was depressed, and I was just 36. And then I look now in my 40s at a business that I've run, and I have failed. And so many times thought about giving up and quitting more times that I can count I believed I should give up and I didn't. So why do I share all this with you? Even today, being an author, having a successful podcast, having a big presence on social media, being asked to speak at events, teaching, giving, sharing. Even today, as I do that, I'm attacked and criticized every single day by someone. For every hundred Natalie, Jill, I love you. You've helped me, you've helped me level up, you changed my health, whatever it is. For every hundred of those, there's somebody that's nasty, there's someone who tries to tear me down and tell me that I'm not worthy, that I suck, that I'm not good. Unsolicited comments, they affect us, right? For every hundred Natalie, I love you, there's still those mean comments. And you know what? A lot of them still about my appearance. So dang, I share this with you because people can be hurtful. And big or small, short or tall, rich or poor, beautiful or not, every single one of us, we get judged. We get judged and it affects our confidence. And without confidence, nothing in our life thrives. So I share this with you today to know that me, just like you, just like anybody on this planet, living and breathing, we were all born a blank slate. And life happens. And we've made up stories about these things that have happened to us. And I want you to know that you're not alone and you're worth more than those made up beliefs. So I'm going to challenge you to look at who you are now today as a new blank slate. So you can start rewriting these stories of who you want to be. And stepping into that, Sam.
