My three-year-old and I found ourselves on an adventure at a nearby library. There, she fixed her little hands on a puzzle box.
This was not new.
I’ve been impressed by her puzzle skills. Even at three, we would count down “Three, Two, One…” and race to finish puzzles quickly. I’ve lost many times.
She’s got skills.
Near completing her puzzle, she gained a small audience. One girl who was older than she watched her impressively. Motivated, the girl gave me a shy look and stated, “I think I can do that.”
“I think you can do this too; you can do anything,” I tell her. She rearranges the puzzle then rummages through the pieces in hopes of finding a match. Finally, she finds one. Amazed, she shouts, “I did it!”
She continues, shuffling through what’s left. Again, she finds another match. This continues for minutes until finally, the entire puzzle is complete. “I did it!” she praises herself. I watch in appreciation of the lesson.
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky
So why don’t we take them?
Half of us don’t know we can.
We’re unaware that we belong in the spaces and places we so desperately yearn to be in, especially if you’ve never seen it. If there has never been an example of someone who looks like you or has come from the same tribe as you walking in shoes that you only dare to glance at, why dare try them on?
When we see more examples of us wearing those shoes, then maybe we’d dare to believe we could wear them also.
I believe when that beautiful little girl saw my beautiful little girl doing something that she may have never tried, she instantly considered herself capable.
“I think I can do that?” she said, studying her.
“I think you can do this too; you can do anything.” was all that she needed to hear to take the shot.
Maybe that’s all you need to hear: a voice close by telling you that you can, that you belong, and that you deserve to occupy space.
Build My Rock 
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