Since I was about fourteen years old, people have been telling me I look like Reese Witherspoon.
Sometimes a little. Sometimes a lot. Sometimes just “you remind me of her.”
And considering the fact that fourteen to my current age is a pretty long stretch of time, it’s funny that the comparison has somehow stayed consistent through all the phases of life. Hair changes. Faces change. Bodies change. Life definitely changes.
I personally think she got the better end of the deal, and I drew the short straw somewhere in the arrangement when it comes to not only looks but success, but that’s beside the point.
What’s interesting is that recently the comparison started hitting me differently.
As I’ve stepped into writing and speaking, I’ve started realizing that maybe people were never only talking about appearance. Maybe some of it has to do with energy. Personality. Presence. We’re both Southern. We both seem naturally warm. We both try to see life through a hopeful lens.
At least that’s what I’ve decided to tell myself.
So recently I had this thought: why not just reach out to her?
Not because I’m trying to climb some social ladder or attach myself to celebrity culture. Honestly, I don’t think about life that way. But I am becoming an author this fall, and there was something about this decades-long comparison that suddenly made me feel like maybe I should simply send the email and ask if she’d read the book.
And before anyone gets too excited, no, she has not answered.
Mostly because I have not actually sent it yet.
But I think the bigger realization for me has been this growing willingness to stop playing small in my own life.
Why do we talk ourselves out of things before they even happen?
Why do we convince ourselves not to send the email, make the connection, ask the question, or take the chance?
At the end of the day, we are all just people trying to do something meaningful with our limited time here. Some people happen to do it on movie screens. Some do it in hospitals, classrooms, boardrooms, nonprofits, churches, kitchens, or communities.
But we are still people.
And maybe sometimes the little thought that keeps nudging at you deserves a little more attention than you initially give it.
So stay tuned.
And if you happen to know Reese, feel free to put in a good word for me. Wink wink.