Scott Autrey

He walked back into the office and slouched in his chair. He looked at me pitifully and sighed before explaining that our boss had just made him feel like a jerk.

I stopped him. Before he could continue, I stopped him. Our boss had said things to him regarding his job performance, but our boss did not make him feel like a jerk.

No one can make you feel anything. You simply feel a certain way based on what things you decide to make important to you. People give convincing arguments as to why you should believe certain things are important but ultimately it is up to you to decide what you, personally, think is important and how you decide to interpret such things and accept them.

Many magazines and tv programming today take people, digitally alter their image, and proclaim that this is the standard of beauty that you should obtain. They try to convince you that you aren’t good enough and the advertisers try to sell you products that make you better.

And if those products don’t work, then don’t worry because they can sell you other things to help you better handle that you aren’t good enough.

Wait! Hold on! We are dealing with a problem that they made up in order to sell us a solution! I’m fine!

My friends, I’m sorry you ever allowed yourself, even once, to be convinced that you aren’t beautiful or that you aren’t perfect or that you need product for skin, weight, or drive. I’ve been guilty of it too.

It’s hard not to be when we are constantly exposed to it. The most beautiful people are beautiful because they are real people, confident, and secure enough to look beyond the convincing arguments.

Oh, let’s do that! Let’s strive to be okay and happy with ourselves. Let’s smile and laugh without the feeling of “I’m not doing something right because someone I don’t even know told me differently.”

Let’s just appreciate who we are and celebrate the awesome things that make us diverse. When we are more okay with ourselves, then we become a happier people, a stronger people, a more stable people, and ultimately more successful. We just have to stop trying to solve things that aren’t even problems.

We got this. I believe in you.

Argo resident Scott Autrey is an author, performer, and founder of the Birmingham Vaudeville Company.