You Are Not Too Much

If I could whisper just one truth into every child’s ear, every single child on the planet, it would be: You are not too much.

That thing you do—that big laugh, the weird questions, the way you can’t sit still, or the way you talk a mile a minute or don’t talk at all?

Not too much.

Your feelings? Also, not too much. That meltdown you had over the red cup instead of the blue one—sure, adults might roll their eyes, but your feelings were real, and your nervous system was learning something, and you weren’t wrong to feel that way.

You never are.

Feelings aren’t problems to fix; they’re just weather moving through.

People will say you’re too sensitive. Too loud. Too shy. Too intense. Too slow. Too dreamy. Too distracted. Too strange. Too emotional. Too everything. But you’re not. You’re just you.

And that’s exactly right.

I wish someone had told me that. Maybe someone did and I didn’t hear it at the time because the other messages were louder. Those who said, ‘Be good.’ Be quiet. Don’t cry. Don’t be so dramatic. Don’t be so bossy. Don’t be so clingy. Don’t be so angry.

Don’t be so “you.”

But here’s the thing: being you is your entire job. That’s literally it. That’s the assignment.

So if you’re a kid reading this somehow (what are you doing on this blog? Go eat some string cheese or whatever) or if you’re the grown-up version of the kid who still remembers feeling like too much, this is for you:

You are not too much.
You are exactly enough.

And the world needs you—needs you—to stay weird, stay curious, stay kind, stay stubborn, stay playful, stay you. That’s the magic. That’s the whole point.

Don’t shrink.

Expand.