Lewis: The Power of Just Being Yourself

Lewis stands there in the soft morning light — fur a little wild, eyes gentle and certain, paws steady on the living room floor. He’s quiet but present, never trying to be anything other than exactly who he is.

He’s a little shy, happy to stick to his small circle, content to settle into the corners where the sun finds him. He’ll bark when he has something to say — at the mail carrier, for a treat, or just to remind the house that he’s here — but there’s no show in it. It’s honest. Like everything about him.

Lewis is one of a kind. Not because he’s trying to stand out — but because he simply refuses to be anything but himself. No mask. No performance. That’s it.

It makes a person wonder why people complicate things so much — always stretching, comparing, trying to keep up and stand out all at once. The world shouts: Be more. Do more. Be louder, brighter, busier. And there’s Lewis, standing quietly in that sunbeam in the living room, reminding anyone watching that it’s enough to just be yourself.

It brings back a memory — a trip Melanie and I took to Washington DC. A city you feel in your feet and taste in every meal. One of our stops was the National Museum of African American History and Culture — a place so full of stories it humbles you just to stand inside.

In the gift shop, I found a little brass bracelet for Melanie. Simple, beautiful. It read: “You are enough.” Inspired by Maya Angelou — a woman who showed the world what it means to take up space exactly as you are.

And maybe that’s the reminder more of us need: You are enough.

Not when you do more. Not when you keep up. Not when you impress everyone around you.

Right now. Just by being yourself.

Life would be dull if everyone looked the same, barked the same, wagged their tails the same. What makes life rich is the realness — the quirks, the imperfect edges, the small, true ways we show up as we really are.

Look at Lewis — not to be like him, but to remember you get to move through this world in your own way.

Show up real. Speak up when you need to. Rest when you want to. Let yourself be fully, deeply yourself.

There’s no prize for pretending, no medal for blending in.

Take your place — in the sun, in your living room, in your life — exactly as you are.

That’s enough. It always has been.