If this message is for you, you’ll know. If it is, don’t let it stop with you, pass it on.

Once upon a time, a professor came to his class and brought out a $100 bill. He told the class that he felt like giving the money to someone in the class, but he would want to know who really wanted it. Of course, everyone raised their hands that they wanted it.

He then went further to rumple up the money badly and asked them again the same question. The answer was still unanimous. They all raised their hands and screamed, “I want it!”. He then threw the money on the ground and stood on it, rubbed it badly into the dirt, and repeated the same question. You would expect the response to even change a little bit, rather it was louder, “I want it!!”.

The lecturer paused and asked, you are still going to want this money no matter what I do to it right? They screamed at the top of their lungs “yes!!”

The professor proceeded to ask them, why. One really smart student responded that it was because nothing done to the $100 bill changed its value! Boom!!

Now let’s leave the $100 bill and come to you.

Do you sometimes feel like life is crumbling you up?
Do you sometimes feel thrown down?
Do you sometimes stagger under the weight of your bad decisions?
Do you sometimes feel thrown into the dirt and people are standing on top of you?

Well, know this and know peace – whatever has happened to you had not diminished your worth or value.

Yes, sometimes you feel great about yourself, sometimes you feel terrible about yourself, but if you are a $100 bill, that is who you still are. You may be worn out with experience or made crispy by exchange, but you are still who you are and can still trade for what you are worth if you don’t allow what happens to you to change your configuration.

So many people only wait to feel good about themselves to post on social media. They wait for things to be back to normal before they engage others. They wait for their errors to cure before they unleash their potential. Stop that pity party, and get back into the marketplace. You are still valuable, and there is a lot that a $100 bill can do if you stop hiding it because it’s dirty. Clean or dirty, rumpled or creaseless the $100 bill commands the same value.

So do you!