The Diamond We Are

In my lifetime, I've heard and seen several sayings about jewelry, whether it's online, in a commercial or if it came out of someone's mouth. This has been along the lines of it being the icing to the cake to our natural beauty, that without it our outfit cannot be complete, that no one has ever said in their lifetime that they have enough, that there's no sin in being a little bit obsessed with it, and many, many more. The thing is, I haven't heard a story about how I've thought about it, at least not as exaggerated as I think it should be.

Jewelry can tell quite the story if you pay close enough attention to it, and that's why it's so valuable and beautiful. When someone goes to one of the little shops at the mall and that perfect wedding ring catches their eye, there's no backing off from that precious thing. It's just as spectacular as life itself, and that's no understatement.

It's fact. It's reality. It's simply the way it is, and nobody can tell me otherwise. Besides, when someone goes in for that jewel that will be given to the love of their life, it's more than just a jewel. It expresses just how much they know their favorite human being and is the symbol of the journey that they've shared together thus far.

Would they want something simple or something jazzy and show-stopping? Would they want something colorful or silver? Traditional or unique? Every single one of these factors contribute to showing how well a bond of two are connected. It's a cause for celebration.

And the same goes for human beings like ourselves. I've experienced my share of life looking down on myself and seeing how other people look down on me. I've hated myself and have heard the criticism that people express as if they have the right to talk about me that way. I've been there and I've learned first hand what it's like to get the short end of the stick in life, but we're a lot like jewelry. We're a lot like wedding rings in that way, and after countless times looking in the mirror and disliking my reflection I've learned that.

I've seen that we can make life a little easier on ourselves if we don't find an enemy in ourselves. We can be our own version of lab grown diamonds that won't hurt us or anyone else, and that's a huge discovery.

All of us are different. We come in different shapes and sizes. We're different colors, different lives and different experiences. Some of us are simpler than the people we pass by on the street and some of the people we love to spend our daily lives with. We're not all the same, and that's what makes life interesting, captivating -- it's what makes on linger on each other. It's what makes us hold on.

Jewelry is a symbol of closeness. Tying knots. Being with each other, imperfections and all. The escalation of infatuation and lust until it's become love and until it's become the definition of forever. Death do us part, the creation of a new kind of happily ever after. It may be the very thing that makes us realize we've gotten what we never thought we could. New chapters. New beginnings. Newfound joy.

The capabilities of humans and what we're made to do shines just like a ring does. This is proof that we're truly the key to making the earth a better place than when we found it.

We deserve to cherish and treasure ourselves. We deserve to cherish and treasure each other. When the world gets rotten and feels unbearable, we have this to draw us closer together and keep us standing. We remind ourselves that we're confident, fantastic, and gorgeous people. That we're worth the fight. That we're worth the goodness that makes us warm and makes us cozy.

That together we can conquer all.

It's finally clicked that the "spread love" phrase refers to ourselves too. We need to love ourselves and the ones who love us. Those are the only people who matter.