This scene looks happy, even festive. The lights are bright, and a little girl's toys are strewn across the floor.
But something's off.
Sitting on the floor beside her is a man looking deadpan at the camera. He looks quizzical, even suspicious at the person behind the camera.
As you'll see, he has good reason to be.
A Bizarre Buildup
right human eye Photo by Liam Welch on Unsplash
The man is holding an object in his hand and barely breaks eye contact with the camera. Drowned out by the music is the faint voice of a woman, her voice barely audible.
He continues to stare back, looking down at the object and then back at the camera.
However, the words appearing across the screen slowly piece this puzzle together. By the time this short video is done, we can hear the voice.
"Are you okay?" she asks.
The man nods slowly, wiping the tears from his eyes and looking down at his hand.
"l'll never trade this moment for anything," reads the text across the screen.
A Soulful Surprise
person holding box Photo by Kira auf der Heide on Unsplash
You see, the man in the video knows that it wasn't too long ago that things weren't so happy. The person he's looking back at -- his wife -- knows this too.
Through the captions across the screen, she shares that their family put off holiday cheer due to ‘some devastating financial news.' They even put candy in stocking stuffers and wrapped items they already owned 'so our 3-year-old wouldn’t question why WE didn’t have any gifts.'
We also find out that a couple of years prior, her husband lost their wedding band and 'he was devastated.' "It was a crappy little fake gold band we got. All the gold had rubbed off and it was silver," she writes, "but he loved it."
You can almost tell that they are both thinking the same as her husband looks down at the object. It's at that moment that his wife shares the motivation behind this magic video.
'Then I saw this ring while getting groceries last night. It’s not frilly. It’s not super expensive. But it is real gold and was the only one left in Ben’s size," writes Ben's wife.
How a Wife Proves That True Love Is Priceless
During financial struggles, husband receives emotional surprise from wife for Christmas 😭❤️❤️www.youtube.com
There's a saying that money is the root of all evil. Whether or not that's true, we know that it has doomed many marriages.
Per Spectrum Family Law, “Arguments about money (are) by far the top predictor of divorce.” It continues to say, "Money was the second most common subject that couples fight about -- after infidelity. Finances can be more damaging to a marriage than arguments about children, sex, the in-laws or anything else."
Words can't express how tragic I find that fact. Call me an idealist, but the notion that money can drive a wedge between two humans who otherwise love and cherish each other is one of the saddest stories ever told.
It's what makes this story so touching to me and over 13 million others.
"Oh my heart. U can actually feel what this means to him just watching this. That's real love. U can see what his wife means to him," writes one.
Another commenter put it perfectly, "As a man, it doesn't matter the cost. HE appreciates the thought. That to him means everything. He appreciates it. No matter what he says.😊"
Among quotes about love, one by Seth Adam Smith reads, "We simply can’t abandon ship every time we encounter a storm. Real love is about weathering the terms of life together."
I'm blessed to have had front-row seats to my parents enduring through the storms of life, together. Just like them, this video shows us that in life, the true beauty of love lies in the struggle.
*Featured image contains photos by SHVETS production
You've Got "It": It's Authenticity, and It's Your Superpower
"She hasn't got it," the audition panel member says. "The other girl, however, has -- and unfortunately it can't be taught. You either have it or you don't."
Honestly, how many times have you heard about this mysterious, God-given, unreachable "it"?
The it that has the potential to determine your life opportunities in seconds, yet that at the same time, no one can define.
I'll tell you what "it" is. It's the unashamed, full you. It's who you are without tension and fear. It's authenticity. And it is your superpower.
You've Got "It": It's Authenticity, and It's Your Superpower
Whoever tells you only some are born with it -- perhaps the audition panel member, or the slam poetry contest judge, or the doubtful singing teacher -- most likely does so out of pure ego, because someone, once upon a time, told them they had "it," and it made them feel special and superior.
You may be sceptical about this. "Why is it, then," you may ask, "that some people just seem to exude a natural charisma, while others cower away from the spotlight?"
One of two things: either the charismatic ones were born into privilege, or their charisma was hard-won. Perhaps both.
Playing the cards we're dealt
So many privilege-born people are famous worldwide not solely because they had the money to get where they wanted to go, but because their level of "it" has consistently soared through the roof.
Why?
Well, one reason is because as children they were showered with love.
Think about this without judgement for a moment. Because this is not to say that unprivileged families do not love their children. But rather, as someone who comes from an extremely unprivileged family, I know it is because unprivileged children's thoughts, aside from all the love and hope our families may offer, are often clouded with the deep-seated financial worry that money and/or success are scarce resources only destined for a small few in society. This fear is rarely present in the mind of a privileged child.
While all parents love to tell their children early on in life, "You can do anything!", a lot of working-class families feel obliged to add, "but be realistic." And this act of being realistic really is critical to the possibility of ever having "it".
Oprah Winfrey didn't just wake up one day with it. Growing up, she was the opposite of privileged. Mountainous setbacks, failures, doubts and uncertainties had to be overcome before "it" could become synonymous with her way of being in the world. "It," for me, is exemplified by Winfrey's unshakeable stage presence -– and it was not lightly won.
The inner you: the "it" in authenticity
Let's face the facts: your highest, most authentic self is not a realist. He or she is an optimist beyond belief. You can deny this all you want. But underneath all of that cynical armor is a hopeful child with the most utterly cosmic dreams for yourself.
What would happen if you let that child out, into your daily life, into every moment, every opportunity? You would suddenly have it. The "it" in au-then-tic-IT-y. The type of unforgettable presence that lights up a room for a moment and warms people's hearts for years.
It comes from copying no one. It comes from doing what only you do best. It comes from being wholly you.
Voice coach and author Patsy Rodenburg, in her book Presence, calls this being in "the Second Circle." The state of being alive and present and fully connected to oneself and one's surroundings; offering generously and receiving generously. She believes it is where all of the great athletes, actors, musicians, politicians and entrepreneurs, in their finest moments, live.
What is important to remember is that not only can you have it, but you are entitled to it. Authenticity is your birthright. The ability to shine is your birthright. The ability to be seen and heard and talked about with awe is your birthright.
So how do we unravel this version of you? How do we eliminate all of those years of useless worry, tension, unease, anxiety and fear?
By encouraging you to effortlessly be your authentic self in every situation.
Authenticity is your superpower
I wish there were some hidden, cryptic secret, but it truly is as simple as that. When you are authentically you, you are unstoppable. You are unbreakable. Flash back to every time you have laughed so hard your stomach hurt, cried tears of empathy watching a moving piece of cinema, or experienced the kind of joy that makes the world brighter and more colorful for a while. Undoubtedly, you had no time to wear your layers: you were your authentic self.
This is the person you are without a second thought, the person you are with your favorite people or practicing your favorite hobby. This is the person you are without mental, physical or emotional clutter getting in the way.
It is your job to own this part of you and become it more fully and relentlessly than you ever have before. It is your job to rekindle it and let it blaze brightly in the face of every rejection, every loss and every setback.
Don't be disconcerted by others' discomfort
But, remember this: on your journey towards retrieving "it," some people, especially those who've known you longest, won't like the changes they see. It will make them uncomfortable to know that you are shedding the old habits they associate you with because they no longer serve you; a sense of abandonment could lead them to try to curse your path.
They'll call you a fraud; they'll magnify your failures; they'll gossip about you and tell everyone how "phony" you've become (when you've actually just become your true self) and perhaps now and then their voices will win and the self-doubt will start.
When this happens, return to the words of Erin Elizabeth: "Being unapologetically yourself comes with a price. Always pay it."
This small fee will send you further in life than you can imagine in the present moment. Every successful person has had to pay it. And there's a hard truth about why so few people have "it," and it's not that some are born with it and the rest are not: it is that most are raised enclosed in a space of fear while a successful few, albeit for some with aid from their circumstances, are able to break through and beyond by choosing to trust their own power.
To close, just as we opened, on a quote by Dr. Seuss: