Words.

They’re funny little guys, aren’t they? A bunch of letters mixed together to form something that may or may not make sense, that could build you up or tear you down within seconds.

Words.

They come with such high impact, don’t they? You hear a kind word and you’re flying high for the rest of the day. You hear a discouraging one, and God only knows how long it will take you to recover, if you ever do.

I don’t know about you, but I talk way more than I think, and that’s a problem. We’ve stopped reflecting on what our words can do to each other. We’ve become selfish.

Remember in kindergarten when it was so easy to look at the stranger next to you and tell her you loved her crayon box, or tell the boy running by you at recess that his shoes were the coolest you had ever seen? Maybe the problem is that our kindness left with our innocence.

But what if we could change that? I see a correlation between words and our happiness, be it words we’ve spoken, or words spoken to us.

I can think of several times when words have shattered my spirit, words from others, but more often than not, words of my own.

For a long time, I told myself I wasn’t good enough and I deserved the hurt that had happened to me. Over and over, these words replayed in my mind, blinding me from any healing that needed to take place. Suffocating me until I not only believed them, but lost all desire to fight them. My words affected me and they changed me.

That’s the thing about words, they’re strong.

I also remember a time, a few years back, when a professor called me out in front of the entire class for giving the best speech he had heard all semester. Try as I might, I could not stop smiling. I rushed out the door as class ended, stumbling through names, not able to type in m-o-m fast enough. His words impacted me. They made me happy, and they made me want to share that happiness.

That’s another thing I’ve learned about words, much like anything else in this life, they are contagious. When we’re surrounded with positive, uplifting words, we are more inclined to be positive and uplifting. But when we’re surrounded with negative, hurtful words, we allow ourselves to become negative and hurtful, seeping toxicity wherever we go.

Words.

They hide well too. They are so often unspoken. We think them to ourselves, yet we sit in silence, afraid to speak up, afraid to stand out.

This past winter, I was walking through a parking garage with my boyfriend Alex. He noticed a man, seemingly homeless, down by the elevator. Immediately Alex said to me, “Let’s go grab our leftovers.” So we did. Alex was able to carry on a full conversation with this man, while I sat by quietly, in awe of how easy this was for him. I wanted so badly to reach over and ask the man, Chris, if we could pray for him. But I was scared. At the end of the conversation, Alex prayed for the man. I wish I had the courage Alex has.

Be brave and be bold, when you think nice thoughts, say them out loud. Make somebody’s day with your words. You are capable of making a difference in this world, so do it.

Stop being afraid. Find your voice and use it.