I Love the Me I See in You

Inspired by our latest podcast with Gil Gillenwater

There is something sacred that happens when we show up for another human being. Not with perfection. Not with answers. Not with the right words tied in a neat little bow.

Just presence.
Just compassion.
Just two hearts in the same moment, breathing the same air, sharing the same fragile humanity.

I’ve spent years listening to people’s stories — their heartbreak, their hope, their resilience, their rising. And somewhere along the way, I realized something that has stayed with me like a steady beat:

Helping others isn’t a one-way gift.
It changes me too.

Every time someone lets me into their world, even for a moment, I walk away with something I didn’t have before. A deeper understanding. A clearer purpose. A more grounded sense of who I am.

We think we’re the ones offering support, but often we’re also receiving something quietly transformative in return.

🌸 When Service Becomes a Mirror

I used to think helping was something we do for other people.
Now I know:
Helping is something that shapes us too.

When I sit with someone in their pain, I see traces of my own wounds — not in a way that takes away from their story, but in a way that reminds me what it means to be human.

When I look into the eyes of someone who is hurting, grieving, rebuilding, surviving… something inside me whispers:

“I know that place.”
“I’ve stood there too.”
“And I’m still standing.”

In their courage, I see my own.
In their vulnerability, I see the places in me still healing.
In their story, I see pieces of mine reflected back.

And through that reflection comes this truth:

Even though we are different,
I love the me I see in you.

🌼 Different Lives, Same Humanity

We come from different roads.
Different houses.
Different families.
Different battles.

But when we meet heart-to-heart, when we step outside ourselves long enough to really see another person, the differences fall away.

What’s left is the part of us that ache, hopes, fears, loves, breaks, and rises.
That part is universal.
That part is recognizable.

That part is beautiful.

💛 The Gift of Helping Someone Else

Helping someone else is not about being the hero.
It’s about realizing that their story awakens something inside you too.

It reminds you:

• You have strength.

• You have compassion.

• You have a purpose bigger than your pain.

And in that connection — that sacred exchange — you discover that the person you’re helping is also revealing a better version of you.

Not perfect
Not polished
But honest
Kind
Capable
Present
Human

A version of you worth loving.

🌅 A Quiet Becoming

Every time I show up for someone else, I become.
A little more grounded.
A little more compassionate.
A little more aware of the kind of person I want to be.

Helping others softens the sharp parts of my story and strengthens the parts that once felt weak.
It opens me.
It teaches me.
It changes me.

And it reminds me, again and again, that we don’t heal in isolation.
We heal in connection.
We heal when our stories touch.
We heal when we look at someone else and see a reflection of who we’re becoming.

🌟 I Love the Me I See in You

So to every person who has let me into your story —
thank you.

Thank you for letting me see your humanity.
Thank you for letting me witness your strength.
Thank you for showing me a reflection of the person I am still learning to be.

When I say
“I love the me I see in you,”
I mean this:

You remind me who I am.
You remind me who I want to be.
You remind me that compassion is a mirror —
and every time I look into it,
I become a little more whole.