Who Am I? The Inspiration.
2020 has been a year for the record books, has it not?
In more ways than one…
And for me, this year,
along with all the sh*t,
has been an amazing year
of meeting truly rockstar women.
Women who embody a way of being that was so unfamiliar to me,
yet so very magically-right.
Not expecting that…now were you?
But do we need more talk of pandemics and politics when in reality our relationships and how we make each other feel each and every moment is what truly matters.
Sink into that for a moment.
I live by this one quote of the amazing poet and woman, Maya Angelou, who once said
”I've learned that people will forget what you said,
people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
If that’s not some foot-stomping truth to you, then stop reading now as you won’t like what comes next.
See for me women, in general, never left me feeling real good about myself.
I have an old story around woman.
A story that involves jealous, back-stabbing b*tchiness.
A catty-competitive streak that simply turned me off to making a go at deep-sharing and friendships with the same sex.
I saw this young in life,
in my own family dynamic.
And I never understood it.
Never liked how it made me feel.
I always observed the behavior of these women,
adults to my childish innocence,
like a mad-scientist observes a lab-rat
through thin, steel bars.
To say this experiment — I mean, experience —
with the majority of woman I met
early on in my life
left me feeling hollow,
different…
A spectator in a game I simply refused to play,
even if I’d known how,
would be a gross understatement.
So I backed away, secretly harboring a desire to unearth what I knew was missing.
Real women,
unafraid of each other’s successes,
eager to celebrate one another.
That couldn’t be just a myth in my magically-creative mind, could it?
Yet, this year has introduced me to a new breed of woman.
And proved that magic does exist.
A flock of sisters,
of goddesses,
of powerful female beings
who need not stand on the shoulders of another to know who they are.
Who need not smile — forward-facing
while back-stabbing you,
with a dip and a twist,
the moment your profile is in sight.
A cluster of woman
who support, uplift and desire nothing
but the other’s greatness.
To say it’s been rewarding…
would be an understatement.
To say I wasn’t cautious — at first,
would be a lie.
To say I don’t still blink in awe
at the bonds developing,
the trust felt,
would be a giggle.
A gas.
To say I am not loving
this new-found family,
who only want each other to shine,
would be a crime.
So, without further wordiness on my part, I want to share this.
When you meet a woman
who knows herself.
Her worth
Her value
As a human being.
Not based on her doing-ness
but simply who she is being at her core.
It’s a glorious thing.
When you meet a woman not swayed by society’s standards and the norms that typically box both sexes in, something magical unfolds.
An opening for you to embrace the same knowing within you.
At least that’s what took place for me.
An awakening to see that it’s so not about people pleasing all,
but standing firm in the pleasing of yourself.
And damn if that ain’t hot.
To shed the should haves, would haves, could haves.
To let go of who others want you to be, expect you to be…
Who you’ve trained them you will be…
And to step fully into the skin of you.
A skin that may feel stretched thin
Or fresh and smooth like a new-borns
as you answer the most important of all questions.
A question most women stumble over
never get right,
until they stop trying…
Who Am I?
When you pause in answering that Q like a true-false quiz
and sink into the answer,
only for yourself,
the words come.
As a beat,
A steady drip,
An all-knowing tidal-wave…
It matters not.
All I know is that in answering this question, with a new found appreciation that I am not a lone-woman…
But blazing the trail of me,
supported and rooted,
cheered on
by amazing estrogen-flooded sisters,
Something within me
opened free.
And all it took was one more bad-ass woman in my sphere.
An Irish lass, who cares not what others think of her.
A woman who is daring,
brass,
and bold as f*ck.
A woman who knows her positives and her negatives and is not afraid to own either — for you can’t have one without the other, now can you?
A woman who happens to love that world as much as her drink…
and herself.
Yep, I said it.
She loves herself and that, friend, is where you too may have been steered wrong if you thought “ego” or “well…”
All starts with love of self.
I too was told that was so very wrong…
And I’m now calling bullsh*t
because, in truth,
it’s the only right thing there is.
This field of you
when fertilized with love,
becomes a place all can grow.
If you are a JOY-Subscriber, you can dive in here now.
This is where I share The Answer, my answer, to this question so few ask of themselves. That so few are able to answer honestly, for themselves.
And hey, I get it because before just one hour with this bad-ass, fearless woman, and taking a beat, I too would have answered this question with others in mind first.
Who Am I? The Answer.
Not yet a JOY-Subscriber?
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You can get a sneak peek of those words here and then check out just what being a JOY-Subscriber looks like, because, let’s face it…
We could all use more JOY at this time, could we not?
Photo Credit: Alexander Krivitskiy @krivitskiy
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