I was looking back through some old notebooks... Notebooks from more than four years ago when I used to live in Ottawa. I would write fairly consistently in my travels because I always traveled by bus and I would always meet the most interesting people, so I never left the house without my writing tools. I wrote of this one woman, whom I spoke with who really struck a chord with me. What got our conversation started was a book that I was reading at the time called 'The artists Way'.
'That's a really good book.' She said. 'I wish I had read it when I was your age.' We talked for quite some time when she told me that she was approaching her fifties. What really spoke to me that I felt necessary to write down was when this complete stranger told me that 'Life is not about caring what other people think, or shaking it up on the dance floor or looking gorgeous. It's about confidence. Believing in yourself and holding your head up high. I'm not thin like you, but that does not mean I am not beautiful. I know this because I used to be a size 3, and I am more happy now than I was then. Be happy with who you are and that is all that counts.'