I got rizzed by a 19-year-old girl today!

I just got rizzed by a 19-year-old girl on my walk back home.

She ran from behind me to catch up with me at a dark point in the road. When I heard her footsteps approaching towards my right side, I quietly shifted my phone from my right hand to my left, tucked my feet tighter into my shoes, and made a mental note to run at the slightest hint of weirdness. She slowed down when she reached me, and I turned to look at her: she wore a fashionably oversized white T-shirt, brown shorts that reached a few inches above her knees, and wore her hair in a buzz cut -a model’s head.

“Hiii…!” she beamed. She gave off an easy, pleasant energy that immediately disarmed me. And me, being me, we hit it right off. She was afraid of the dark and looking for walking company. She ran to catch up with me and find out if I was going as far as the centre ahead. I was. Pleasantries done and rapport established, we started to talk like the walking companions we now were. Three sentences later, we were throwing our heads back and laughing into the night ahead.

I had been considering getting a BodaBoda but with my new companion, I nolonger needed to.

I told her that it was my first time walking that stretch at that time of the night. I wanted to test myself and see if I could walk that stretch. I had become conscious of the cost of the daily commute and wanted to make some changes, that is, walk more. I also wanted to be more fit.

“Fit?” she asked.

That is where the rizz began.

So apparently, it was not entirely true that she wanted a walking companion. At least, not _only_ that. There was something else.

Apparently, she had been walking behind me for a while and was in awe of my physique. She wanted a walking companion, yes, but also, she wanted to tell me that she thought I was beautiful.

That crumbled my heart with warmth.

You see, I will rarely let a beautiful girl go untold. She will hear it! Body, Hair, Skin, Smile, Energy, Outfit: you will hear it! So to be the recipient of the same compliments and unfettered praise I am very quick to disburse was a whole other experience.

But also, I saw myself in her. She showed me what I look like – the ease with which I start conversations, reach out to strangers, make myself available, give compliments and sincere praise – and what I saw made me love myself intensely.

You know, we do not often rate ourselves. We underestimate our contribution -and not even by the work we do, but by simply existing and functioning in our natures.

I love people and will sooner sit for a conversation than do anything else. I am especially drawn to sincerity, simplicity, and normalcy. Instinctively, I know that stripping off everything external and inviting someone to be known through honest, kind conversation is the best way to enjoy another person’s existence.

My gift is the ease with which I am able to reach people.

The problem is that sometimes I forget that that is what it is: a *gift* and long to be reached, seen and heard the exact same way I reach others. But you see, they are different and equally gifted in other ways that ably meet my needs.

This is what I learned today: I am absolutely necessary to the world. The way that girl made me feel today? I want to make as many people as I can, feel the same way, for as long as I am alive.