My Message

So I have been doing some major reflecting lately. I have been thinking about the fact that I don't want to be famous and well known, but I want my message to be known. I want my voice to be heard, my message to be shared.

I want to empower women, not to rule the world, but to live a life that is true to themselves. A life that allows them to take their unique set of skills, talents, and passions and do something remarkable. I want women to empower each other. I want to show women that we can do so much more when we work together, when we lift each other up instead of constantly beating each other down.

We live in a world where women are constantly pitted against each other. A world where one of the greatest insults is to be told that you do something like a girl. A world where we are told that we must reach certain standards or we have failed as women. A world where those standards are unattainable. A world where women who are claimed to have reached those standards far too often allow the world to believe they have, even when they haven't. A world that tells us that a man who has decided he is a woman is a better woman than all of the rest of us. A world that has beat us down for far too long.

This world does not show us what can happen when women come together and make miracles happen. A world that does not show us that every single woman has something special and unique to offer the world. That the standards the world has set for us mean nothing. One woman cannot be everything in the world, but she can change her world.

Every woman has her specific set of gifts, talents, and passions for a reason, and that reason is to changer her world. For some women that world his her house and family. For other women that world is a classroom. Other women it is an operating room, a business, a school, a town, a state, or a country. And for some women that world really just may be the world. NO matter what world you are changing it is important. YOU are important. You have a reason. You have a purpose and the world would not be the same without you in it.

Powerful- What Does it Mean?

As I search for the next woman to highlight, either from Australia or South America, I run various Google searches hoping to stumble upon the right woman to feature next. I usually start out with a search of powerful women from that continent. Guess what sort of links pop up when I run this search? See for yourself. Someone who is powerful is someone who has influence in the business world. Someone who has money, or influence over those with money. While some of these women most definitely are wonderful role models, women who are powerful, self confident, and able, not all of them are. Some are not great role models, and definitely not the kind of woman I want to feature.

For whatever reasons, this is the type of women who are considered to be the most powerful. Like I have said before, this is not necessarily the type of woman I am looking for. 

"Shrinking Woman"

I don't know the first time I saw this video, but I remember the way it impacted me, and the feeling it left me. I think in so many ways even the title perfectly captures what has happened to women over time. 

When she talks about how every question she asked in class started with the word sorry, I could complete relate to that. How many of us feel as if we are intruding, being obnoxious, interrupting, etc. when we have a question or something to add to a discussion? In a classroom where you are at to learn, why must one feel the need to apologize when they are asking a question, asking to LEARN something? This is not something to apologize for, and yet more often than not, it seems that women DO apologize. Perhaps they feel "sorry" for not understanding, or for interrupting, but, one has the right to be confused, to ask a question when they need clarification, it is not something to apologize for. 
Why must we feel the need to always use the word sorry? There is definitely a time and a place to use the word, but in so many ways it has become over used and in some ways has lost its meaning. 

Women have been shrinking for so very long, feeling the need to take up less space, to make room for others, not just men. It seems to be more of the norm for women to think that they are not a priority, that they need to make time, space, room, etc. for everyone else in their life, to appease others, sacrifice themselves, etc. What is the cause and purpose of this? Is the "shrinking woman" really benefiting ANYONE by "shrinking"? Is she doing good in the world by allowing others to "invade" her space and take over her life? I think the quote from Marianne Williamson best answers that.

Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate,

but that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us. 

We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant,

gorgeous, handsome, talented, and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world. 

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking

so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. 

It is not just in some; it is in everyone.

And, as we let our own light shine, we consciously give

other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our fear,

our presence automatically liberates others.

This has long been one of my favorite quotes/poems. I wrote about it in another post. 

I think throughout history they have always been those women who realize that "shrinking" is not the best way to live and serve the world. One does need to be overpowering, domineering, thoughtless, or selfish and does not become those things by NOT shrinking. There is a balance between realizing your own worth and living your own life and helping others. Some women go too far one way or the other, but in my view shrinking is just as harmful as being thoughtless and selfish. "There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you."

Nothing Limits You Except Your Fear

The above is one of my all time favorite quotes/poems. The text is at the bottom of the post if you have a hard time reading the above.

This poem has alway spoken to me. I think often times many of us, especially women feel like we do not have the right to do something grand with our life, to let other people see the things we can really accomplish. We (okay this is just my PERSONAL thoughts of what is probably going on in my own brain) feel that we do not have the right to dare to dream of doing something amazing, and accomplishing great things in life. Who am I to dare to dream to make a change in the world? Who am I to actually make a big difference? What makes me think that little old nobody me can do something that will actually change something? 

I think that that is where I am standing right now. I am bound by my thoughts, limited by my fear, and controlled by my belief (subconscious or otherwise) that maybe I cannot, or do not have the ability to do something great with my life. I am overwhelmed by thoughts of ideas and possibilities of what I could do and avenues I could set out on, an in the end frozen in a state of fear that is limiting me from actually doing something with my life.

Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate,

but that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us.
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant,
gorgeous, handsome, talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.
It is not just in some; it is in everyone.

And, as we let our own light shine, we consciously give
other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.