Are you selling yourself short?

Many of you can relate to or at least vaguely recall the story of the Wizard of Oz. While Dorothy lands in a make-believe world she finds both terrifying and delightful, she is thrust into a group of unique characters: the Wizard of Oz, the Cowardly Lion, the brainless Scarecrow and the heartless Tin Man. In the 1939 film, the scarecrow says, "I am convinced that the only people worthy of consideration in this world are the unusual ones. For the common folks are like the leaves of a tree, and live and die unnoticed.” Are you ordinary or are you unusual (extraordinary)? Do not sell yourself short.

Too many of you do sell yourselves short thinking that you are not smart enough, not courageous enough, or not caring enough to carry yourself through to the finish line. What many people do not realize is that the Wizard of Oz story encapsulates the five aggregates of mankind. The prime example is little Dorothy - the lost child who must find her way back home, but she must first conquer all the fears she certainly entertains among the characters conjured in her mind. Are you Dorothy, the Wizard of Oz, the cowardly lion, the tin man or the scarecrow? All are a part of Dorothy's being, but many of you fail to realize this truth in yourself. Dorothy is simply the vessel, her ultimate choice is the Wizard of Oz, her feeling throughout the ordeal is the cowardly lion, her consciousness becomes the childlike scarecrow, and her thought translates into the tin man. The story mixes real truths with fantasy; but in the end, she must still choose reality by conquering her innate fears and character flaws. All of us have them, many of us get stuck in one pattern and forget that we are more than just a character trait.

Throughout the story, Dorothy sells herself short until the very end when she realizes that her innate power and all the tools to overcoming her challenges getting back to Kansas were with her all along. Do not sell yourself short like Dorothy did and keep yourself stuck in one character. Like Dorothy, you have the purposeful choice to take the right path… just follow the yellow brick road and know where you are going is the right course for you. Know that no matter how difficult the path, no matter the obstacles (the Wicked Witch of the East and the Wicked Witch of the West), you will see the end result when you just believe in yourself. Believing in herself was all Dorothy had to do to go back to Kansas. Believing in himself was all the cowardly lion had to do to have courage. Believing in himself was all the scarecrow had to do to have a brain and believing in himself was all the tin man had to do to have a heart.

  

In the end, you only have you to sustain yourself along the way. Your willingness and determination to create the life you desire is only at an impasse if you choose it to be.  So my message to you is: “Please do not sell yourself short.”

  

Joan Marie Ambrose

Author, Creative Writer, Motivational Speaker