Cool girls can be nice too.

When I walked into the Glow Getter Gala alone, wearing sweats and no makeup, I was immediately greeted with a room full of GORGEOUS models in hair and makeup.

And can I be a little vulnerable with you, ladies? I wanted to turn and run back out. They all knew each other, were chatting excitedly, and looked STUNNING, and it brought me back to my days of feeling super-plain and being the “nice” girl, never the pretty (much less “hot”) one.

And even though the event was being put on to honor me and the other 2 Glow Getters, I still felt completely out of place with all of these models and beauty queens.

There was no cell phone reception at this venue, so while I waited for a makeup artist to become available, I sat awkwardly on a couch by myself, reading an e-book and praying that one of the other 2 honorees would show up soon.

Why do I share this kinda painful story with you? Because from the outside, when my hair and makeup finally got done and I put on THAT dress and posed for pics around the venue that looks like a European castle (#dream), spoke on a stage to a room full of influencers, and received a big donation to my non-profit, everything seemed effortless.

But we ALL carry those stories with us that pop up from time to time when we least expect them, and we can choose to either let them determine our future, or we can write a different one for ourselves.

I sucked it up and decided to make myself some friends with these cool, beautiful perfect-looking girls :). I decided despite my major adolescent and young adult insecurities that I would strengthen my confidence muscle and do the thing that scared and intimidated me. And then I toasted myself with a little bubbly (and brought my new friends some, too, though I didn’t tell them why ;).

It’s the exact same in business-building and income-replacing. We allllllll have these stories, most of them rooted in our youuuuuths, where we believed totally irrational things about ourselves and what was/is possible.

What’s one story you’ve noticed for yourself or that you’ve worked on shedding because it doesn’t help you get where you want to be in your life & business?